US President Donald Trump has suspended the diversity visa, commonly known as the green card lottery, following a deadly shooting involving a programme beneficiary at two leading American universities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Thursday (18 December) that, on Trump’s directive, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been ordered to pause the programme with immediate effect.
The decision comes after Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was identified as the suspect in shootings at Brown University that killed two students and injured nine others, as well as the killing of an MIT professor. US officials said Neves Valente was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Noem said the suspect “should never have been allowed into the country,” directly linking the incident to the diversity visa programme through which Neves Valente obtained legal permanent residency in 2017, according to the US Attorney for Massachusetts.
The diversity visa lottery, created by the US Congress, offers up to 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States, many of them in Africa. Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 programme, with just over 131,000 selected including family members. Portuguese citizens secured only 38 slots.
Winners of the lottery must still undergo extensive vetting, including interviews at US consulates, and are subject to the same eligibility and security checks as other green card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa system, arguing it poses security risks. The suspension is expected to trigger legal challenges, as the programme is established under US law.
The move follows a broader hardline immigration stance by the Trump administration. In recent months, it has tightened restrictions on legal immigration routes while pushing forward with mass deportation plans. Following another fatal attack in November involving an Afghan national, the administration imposed sweeping immigration restrictions on Afghanistan and several other countries.
Meanwhile, Trump is also seeking to curb birthright citizenship, a right guaranteed under the US Constitution. The Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear his challenge on the issue, setting the stage for a major legal and political battle over the future of US immigration policy. (AP)
