President Donald Trump has ordered the immediate suspension of a controversial green card lottery programme, following revelations that the suspect in a series of deadly shootings entered the United States through the scheme.
Security Directive Follows University Attacks
In a post on the social media platform X, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem confirmed the directive. She stated that the gunman, identified as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, was admitted to the country in 2017 under the Diversity Visa Lottery, known as the DV1 programme.
"This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country," Secretary Noem wrote. She added that at President Trump's direction, she is instructing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to pause the DV1 programme to prevent further harm from what she termed a "disastrous" system.
Timeline of Violence Linked to Visa Holder
The order comes in the wake of a violent spree linked to Neves Valente. Authorities confirmed that on Saturday, the suspect entered the Barus & Holley engineering building at Brown University in Providence and opened fire on students sitting final exams.
Two students, Ella Cook, 19, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, were killed. Nine others sustained injuries. Brown University confirmed Neves Valente had been enrolled in a PhD physics programme from 2000 to spring 2001 but had no current affiliation with the institution.
The violence continued on Monday, when Neves Valente shot and killed 47-year-old MIT professor Nuno Loureiro near his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Reports from The New York Times indicate the two men had been classmates in Portugal.
Investigation Concludes, Programme Under Scrutiny
Law enforcement officials confirmed on Thursday that the suspect was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Ted Docks stated there are no outstanding suspects and noted that around 500 federal agents were deployed to assist local investigations.
"Even though the suspect was found dead tonight, our work is not done. There are many questions that need to be answered," Agent Docks said.
The diversity visa programme at the centre of the controversy allocates up to 50,000 green cards annually to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the US. Selection is via a lottery. In 2025, nearly 20 million people applied, with over 131,000 selected as winners, including spouses.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has targeted the programme. Secretary Noem referenced a 2017 effort to end it following a terrorist attack in New York City carried out by an individual who also entered via the DV1 lottery. President Trump has long been a vocal opponent of this and other immigration pathways.
The administration recently imposed similar restrictions on immigration from Afghanistan after an Afghan national was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members.
