The White House on Thursday shut down the diversity visa lottery, with President Donald Trump directing immigration officials to suspend the program after authorities linked a recent campus shooting suspect to the pathway.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem disclosed the decision on X, saying she had instructed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the lottery following Trump’s order.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Noem said, naming Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Law enforcement officials say Neves Valente, 48, was responsible for attacks that killed two students at Brown University, wounded nine others, and claimed the life of an MIT professor. Authorities said he was later found dead on Thursday.
According to court filings, Neves Valente first entered the United States in 2000 on a student visa to attend Brown University. An affidavit from a Providence police detective states that he left the school the following year and later reappeared in federal immigration records. In 2017, he received a diversity immigrant visa and went on to obtain permanent resident status. Officials have not detailed where he lived in the years between his departure from Brown and the approval of his visa.
The diversity visa lottery was established by Congress to broaden immigration by offering up to 50,000 green cards each year to applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, including many in Africa. Because the program is codified in law, Trump’s decision to halt it is expected to trigger legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million applications were submitted for the 2025 lottery, according to published figures. When spouses were included, more than 131,000 people were selected, though selection only allows winners to apply and does not guarantee admission. Applicants must still clear background checks and in person interviews. Portuguese nationals accounted for just 38 of those selected.
Lottery recipients are required to go through the same screening and eligibility standards as other green card applicants, including interviews at U.S. consulates overseas.
Trump has long argued that the diversity visa program poses security risks. Noem’s announcement reflects a broader approach in which the administration has tied immigration restrictions to acts of violence. After an Afghan national was accused of killing National Guard members in November, the administration moved to impose wide ranging limits on immigration from Afghanistan and several other countries.
At the same time, Trump has pressed ahead with plans for mass deportations while seeking to curtail legal immigration routes. His agenda has targeted policies created by Congress, such as the diversity visa lottery, as well as constitutional guarantees. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship, which grants citizenship to people born in the United States.
