Trump administration suspends US green card lottery

The Trump administration has paused the diversity visa lottery programme after the suspect in deadly shootings at Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology entered the US through it.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on 18 December 2025 the immediate suspension of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, known as the green card lottery. The move, ordered by President Donald Trump, follows confirmation that suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente obtained permanent residency via the programme in 2017.

Noem called Valente a “heinous individual” who should never have entered the country. In a post on X, she directed United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to halt the programme to prevent further harm.

Shootings at elite universities

The attacks started on 13 December 2025 at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown physics PhD student from 2000-2001, allegedly entered a building during a study session and fired multiple rounds. Two students, Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, died, while nine others suffered injuries.

Two days later, on 15 December, Valente is accused of fatally shooting Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old MIT physics professor specialising in nuclear fusion, at his Brookline home in Massachusetts. The two had attended the same academic programme in Portugal from 1995 to 2000.

After a multi-state manhunt, Valente was found dead on 18 December from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a rented storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Firearms were recovered at the scene.

Investigators used surveillance footage, rental car records and hotel stays to track him. He rented a grey Nissan Sentra in Boston on 1 December and was spotted near Brown multiple times beforehand.

Diversity visa programme explained

Established in the 1990s by Congress, the programme awards up to 55,000 permanent resident visas annually via random lottery to applicants from countries with low US immigration rates.

Eligibility requires a high school education or equivalent work experience, plus background checks, medical exams and interviews.

Nearly 20 million applied for the 2025 cycle, with over 131,000 selected including dependents. Portugal receives few visas, around 38 in recent years.

Trump has long criticised the programme as a security risk without merit-based selection. He tried to end it in his first term after a 2017 New York attack involving a diversity visa recipient from Uzbekistan.

Effects on applicants worldwide

The pause disrupts thousands, particularly in Africa where over 40% of visas typically go. Nations such as Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Cameroon rely on it for migration, remittances and opportunities.

Experts warn of stalled applications and uncertainty for selectees. No resumption date has been set.

Political divide and legal questions

Democrats labelled the suspension reactionary, stressing existing vetting. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it overlooks safeguards.

Republicans supported it as vital protection, with House Speaker Mike Johnson calling it an America First priority.

Legal experts question the authority, as the programme is mainly State Department-run and created by Congress. Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union plan challenges, citing past court blocks on similar restrictions.

Campus aftermath

Brown and MIT communities mourn the victims. Vigils remembered Cook, a young scholar; Umurzokov, an international student; and Loureiro, a fusion energy pioneer.

All Brown injured have stabilised or been discharged, officials said on 18 December.

Motive remains unclear despite connections to Loureiro and Valente’s brief time at Brown. The suspension adds to Trump’s immigration reforms amid ongoing deportations.

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