Trump suspends Green Card lottery system after Brown University shooter revealed to be Portuguese
In response to a shooting incident at Brown University, US President Donald Trump suspended the Diversity Visa program. The shooter was a 48-year-old student from Portugal who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
US President Donald Trump suspended the “Diversity Visa program” on Thursday, 18 December 2025. Commonly known as the green card lottery, the program was halted following mass shootings at Brown University and MIT.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the move. At the President's direction, she ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to pause the program immediately.
In a post on X, Noem called the lottery a “disastrous program” and stated the pause would ensure no more Americans are harmed. “At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”
According to Fox News, the suspected shooter, 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Neves-Valente was a Portuguese national and a former student at Brown University. Records show he entered the U.S. through the diversity lottery in 2017.
Suggesting that the shooter used the Diversity Visa program to enter the US, Noem added, “The Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card. This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.”
What is Diversity Visa program?
The Diversity Visa program refers to the United States' lottery program for an immigrant visa, which is followed by a permanent resident card. The now-halted Diversity Visa (DV) program came into force in accordance with the Immigration Act of 1990.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the Department of State oversees the operation of the Diversity Visa program, which provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually. It aimed to diversify the country's immigrant population.
This year, around 20 million people applied for the visa lottery. Over 131,000 individuals were selected in this visa lottery, including spouses, while Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots. After winning, the selected individuals are required to undergo a vetting process to gain admission to the United States. Just like other green-card applicants, these lottery winners are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting.
Link between the Brown University shooting and the death of the MIT professor
The shooting incident took place at Brown University’s Barus & Holley engineering building during final exams. The victims were identified as Ella Cook, a sophomore from Alabama and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, an Uzbek-American freshman. Nine other students were injured in the shooting incident.
A 47-year-old professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), identified as Nuno F Gomes Loureiro, was found dead at an apartment near the university. He served as a director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Centre.
A Portugal national, he was shot “multiple times” on Monday at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. The place where the tragic shooting occurred was located 80 km from Providence, CBS reported. Authorities are probing the link between the Brown University shooting and the death of the professor.
