President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the US green card lottery programme following a mass shooting at Brown University last week that left two students dead. The suspect, 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, who had entered the US in 2017 through the diversity visa (DV1) lottery, was found dead in Salem, New Hampshire, in what authorities believe was a self-inflicted gunshot.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the pause, stating the decision was made to prevent further harm from what she described as a “disastrous programme.” Valente is also suspected of killing Portuguese MIT professor Nuno Loureiro earlier in the week. Investigators linked the two attacks through CCTV footage, vehicle tracking, and public tips during a six-day multi-state manhunt.
The DV1 lottery offers up to 50,000 visas annually to applicants from countries with low US immigration rates. Noem highlighted that Trump had previously attempted to end the programme after the 2017 New York truck attack by an Islamic State supporter who had also entered through the scheme.
Brown University confirmed that Valente was a former student with no active affiliation at the time of the shooting. Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the attacks.
