The Trump administration has suspended the controversial diversity visa lottery program after a Portuguese national who entered through the system killed two students at Brown University and a MIT professor.
Story Highlights
- DHS Secretary Kristi Noem suspends diversity visa program following deadly Brown University shooting
- Portuguese gunman Claudio Valente entered U.S. through lottery system in 2017, killed three people
- Trump previously attempted to end the flawed program after 2017 NYC terrorist attack
- Program randomly distributes 50,000 visas annually without proper vetting standards
Swift Action Against Failed Immigration Policy
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the immediate suspension of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program on December 18, 2025, following the tragic Brown University shooting.
Noem instructed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the DV1 program “to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”
The decisive action came after Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who entered through the lottery system in 2017, killed two Brown University students and injured nine others on December 13.
#Breaking: President Trump suspends green card lottery program that allowed suspect in Brown University shooting and killing of MIT professor into the United States.https://t.co/rPZVMYxuU8
— NBC 10 WJAR (@NBC10) December 19, 2025
Gunman’s Deadly Rampage Exposes Program’s Dangers
Valente, 48, opened fire in Brown University’s physics building in Providence, Rhode Island, where he had previously enrolled in a Ph.D program in physics in 2000. The violence didn’t end there.
Two days after the Brown shooting, Valente murdered MIT physics professor Nuno Loureiro in his Brookline, Massachusetts home. Police found Valente dead in a New Hampshire storage facility on December 18, ending the multi-state manhunt and eliminating the ongoing public threat.
Previous Warnings Ignored by Past Administration
Secretary Noem highlighted Trump’s earlier efforts to eliminate this dangerous program, noting that in 2017, President Trump fought to end the diversity visa system following a devastating NYC truck ramming attack. An ISIS terrorist who murdered eight people had also entered the United States through the DV1 program.
The Biden administration’s failure to address these clear security vulnerabilities allowed the flawed system to continue operating, putting more American lives at risk through inadequate screening processes.
Random Lottery System Undermines National Security
The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program operates as a lottery system that randomly allocates up to 50,000 immigrant visas annually to individuals from countries with low immigration rates to the United States.
This random selection process prioritizes geographic diversity over merit-based qualifications or thorough security screenings.
The program’s fundamental flaw lies in its arbitrary nature, which fails to properly vet applicants or assess their potential contributions to American society, creating unnecessary security risks for law-abiding citizens.
