On Thursday, President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of the U.S. green-card lottery program, the very system that had allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to America.
Trump’s Directive
The decision came after a post on X by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said she was acting on Trump’s direction. Noem announced that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services would pause the diversity visa lottery. In the post she added, “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” referring to Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Who is Claudio Neves Valente?
Neves Valente, 48, is the man suspected of killing two students and wounding nine others at Brown University, as well as murdering an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said. An affidavit from a Providence police detective shows that he began studying at Brown on a student visa in 2000. He took a leave of absence in 2001, and the affidavit does not clarify his whereabouts until 2017, when he received a diversity immigrant visa and, months later, legal permanent residence status.
The Diversity Visa Lottery
The diversity visa program, created by Congress, allocates up to 50,000 green cards each year to citizens of countries that are under-represented in the United States-many of those countries are in Africa. Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 lottery, and more than 131,000 were selected when spouses were included. Portuguese citizens secured only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at U.S. consulates and must meet the same requirements and undergo the same vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump’s Long-Standing Opposition
Trump has repeatedly opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of the administration using a tragic event to push immigration policy changes. Earlier in the year, after an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, the Trump administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other countries.
Legal and Constitutional Context
The move to suspend the lottery is likely to invite legal challenges, as the program is enshrined in law. Trump has also pursued mass deportation and sought to limit or eliminate other avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred by constitutional protections, such as the right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
Key Takeaways
- President Trump suspended the diversity visa lottery on Thursday.
- Secretary Noem announced the pause and condemned the suspect’s entry.
- Claudio Neves Valente, the suspect, was a Portuguese national who entered via the diversity visa program.
- The diversity visa program offers up to 50,000 green cards annually to under-represented countries.
- The suspension is expected to face legal challenges.
The decision underscores the administration’s willingness to use violent incidents as leverage to reshape immigration policy, even when those policies are rooted in law and constitutional rights.
