Trump Suspends Immigration Lottery After Brown University MIT Shootings

Swift Response to Campus Tragedy

Hours after authorities identified the gunman responsible for deadly shootings at Brown University and MIT, President Trump ordered the suspension of a federal immigration program that allowed the suspect entry into the United States. The decision comes after authorities said the suspected gunman in the recent shootings at Brown University and the home of an MIT professor used the system to gain entry into the United States.

The suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, killed two students and wounded nine others at Brown University on Saturday. Then MIT professor Nuno Loureiro was gunned down at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Monday. Valente was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility on Thursday, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on X that she's asking US Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the lottery, officially known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. "This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country," Noem said.

The Diversity Visa Program Under Fire

The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States.

Valente entered the U.S. through the program in 2017 and was granted a green card after studying at Brown as a graduate student in 2000-2001. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots in the lottery. The program requires winners to undergo extensive background checks and interviews at U.S. consulates before receiving permanent residency.

Noem referenced a previous attempt to end the program, noting that "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."

Legal Challenges Expected

The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges. Immigration advocacy groups have already begun questioning the administration's authority to unilaterally suspend a program established by federal legislation. "It's unjust to block the legal immigration processes of tens of thousands of people who have absolutely nothing to do with this offense," said Myal Greene, president of World Relief. "This is the latest instance of the administration leveraging an isolated evil action to advance its goal of dramatically reducing legal immigration."

The suspension represents the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals, as Trump pursues mass deportation while seeking to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. Critics argue the move punishes law-abiding applicants who have waited years for their chance at American residency through legitimate channels.

Broader Immigration Crackdown

The diversity visa suspension forms part of Trump's wider immigration enforcement strategy. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump's administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other countries. These actions signal a pattern of using individual criminal cases to justify broader restrictions on legal immigration pathways.

The investigation revealed sophisticated evasion tactics by the suspect, who used different license plates and foreign SIM cards to avoid detection during a five-day manhunt. The case was ultimately cracked when a homeless man's Reddit post led investigators to the rental car used in both attacks. As legal challenges mount, the fate of thousands of diversity visa applicants now hangs in the balance of a program caught between national security concerns and America's tradition of welcoming immigrants from underrepresented nations.