US Homeland Security chief pauses green card lottery programme

Says it was used by Brown University shooting suspect

The United States announced the immediate suspension of the diversity lottery immigrant visa program after authorities said the suspected gunman involved in three killings at Brown University and MIT had entered the country through the system.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said on X that the Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program in 2017 and was later granted a green card.

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.

In 2017, President Trump…

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) December 19, 2025

In a follow-up post, Noem said she was directing US Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the DV1 program, citing concerns about public safety.

Read: Person of interest detained after US shooting

Observers note that Trump has repeatedly referred to an “immigrant crime wave,” while research indicates that immigrants are generally less likely than non-immigrants to commit crimes.

Noem did not provide details on the duration of the pause or the legal mechanism used. The DV1 program was established by Congress, and any permanent changes would require legislation.

According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website, the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program offers up to 50,000 immigrant visas annually by lottery to applicants from countries with low representation in the United States, many of them in Africa.

Anadolu Agency reported that the announcement followed a five-day manhunt for 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente. He is suspected of killing two students and injuring nine others at Brown University, and allegedly murdering MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro two days later in Brookline, Massachusetts. Neves-Valente had been a physics PhD student and was familiar with the Brown University campus.

The Asscociated Press reported that Neves-Valente was found dead on Thursday in a New Hampshire storage unit, with firearms and evidence connecting him to the attacks.

Read More: Manhunt after shooting at elite US university

Peter Neronha, Rhode Island’s attorney general, said in a Thursday briefing that Neves-Valente initially entered the US on a student visa in 2000. He was later granted a diversity immigrant visa in 2017 and obtained permanent resident status. His whereabouts between leaving school in 2001 and receiving the visa in 2017 remain unclear.

Since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has implemented stricter measures on irregular migrants, tightened refugee programs, and restricted entry from certain countries, according to observers.

Trump signed a proclamation restricting entry of foreign nationals from five additional countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, in addition to an earlier list of 12 countries.