President Donald Trump has ordered an immediate suspension of a controversial green card lottery programme after it was revealed the gunman behind the fatal shootings at Brown University and MIT entered the United States through the scheme.
The Shooter's Path to the US
The suspected gunman, identified as 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, obtained legal permanent residence status in 2017 via the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, commonly known as the DV1 lottery. This programme allocates up to 50,000 green cards annually via a random draw to applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the US.
US Attorney for Massachusetts, Leah B Foley, confirmed Valente's immigration status. Portuguese citizens were awarded only 38 slots in the lottery the year he won. The programme involves rigorous vetting, with winners invited to apply for a green card and subjected to interviews and checks at US consulates.
A Trail of Violence Across Campuses
The violence began on December 13 when Neves Valente opened fire during a study session at Brown University's School of Engineering in Rhode Island. The attack claimed the lives of two students: 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov from Virginia and 19-year-old Ella Cook from Alabama.
Just two days later, on December 15, the gunman fatally shot MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro inside his Boston home. Authorities revealed that Loureiro was the original target, with the two men having attended the same school in Portugal between 1995 and 2000. The motive for the attacks remains unclear.
Policy Response and Legal Challenges
In a social media post on Thursday night, Homeland Security Secretary Noem announced the suspension. "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," she stated. Secretary Noem emphasised that the gunman "should never have been allowed in this country."
She also noted that President Trump had previously attempted to end the programme in 2017 following a terrorist attack in New York City. The diversity visa programme was created by an act of Congress, meaning the President's move to suspend it is almost certain to face legal challenges.
The programme is immensely popular, with nearly 20 million people applying for the 2025 lottery, and over 131,000 individuals, including spouses, selected for the chance to apply.
The Six-Day Manhunt and Investigation
Following the shootings, a massive six-day manhunt ensued. The breakthrough came when investigators from the Brown University case saw a bulletin from Massachusetts police regarding Professor Loureiro's murder and noticed similarities in a vehicle of interest.
Authorities tracked a vehicle rented by Neves Valente on December 1 to a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, more than 80 miles from Brown University. On obtaining a search warrant, they found Neves Valente dead in an unoccupied unit from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was in possession of two firearms.
The investigation revealed the suspect employed sophisticated countermeasures to avoid detection. He used a cell phone that obscured his location, credit cards not in his name, and swapped license plates on his rented Nissan Sentra. Surveillance footage ultimately connected him to both crime scenes and the storage facility.
A key tip came from an anonymous source referencing a Reddit post, while a homeless witness and a school custodian who noted a suspicious person with a limp also provided crucial information to Providence police.
