In the wake of last week’s mass shooting at Brown University that left two people killed, the Department of Homeland Security has suspended the U.S. Green Card Lottery.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on X that she had been directed by Trump to instruct the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to suspend the program after it was learned that the prime suspect in the university shooting, along with the murder of MIT professor Nuno Lourerio, had entered the United States in 2017 via the diversity visa lottery program and received permanent residency.

“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Ms. Noem said referring to Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, who was found dead on Thursday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

She also referenced how President Trump, long opposed to the diversity visa lottery, tried to shut down the program during his first term in office.

“In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program, following the devastating NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program, and murdered eight people,” she said. “I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”

Ms. Noem’s announcement is the latest instance of the Trump Administration leveraging tragic events to push forward immigration policy objectives. Following the identification of an Afghan national as the shooter in a November attack that killed National Guard members, the Trump administration implemented broad restrictions on immigration from Afghanistan and several other countries.

According to a Providence police detective’s affidavit, Neves Valente began attending Brown University in 2000 on a student visa. The affidavit states he received a diversity immigrant visa in 2017 and gained legal permanent residence status several months later, according to NBC News. 

His whereabouts between his 2001 leave of absence from the university and his 2017 visa remain unclear.

The diversity visa program allocates up to 50,000 green cards annually through a lottery to individuals from underrepresented nations, particularly in Africa. As a congressional creation, its suspension will likely face legal challenges.

For 2025, nearly 20 million people applied, with over 131,000 selected including spouses. Portuguese citizens received only 38 slots. Winners must then undergo consulate interviews and complete the same vetting and requirements as all other green card applicants to gain entry.