President Trump has suspended the green card lottery program, sending thousands of applicants who were hoping for a chance at U.S. residency into chaos, as per The Hill. This major policy shift came immediately after authorities confirmed the suspected gunman in the recent Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology shootings had used the program to enter the country.
The suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, was a Portuguese national who entered the U.S. in 2017. He utilized the diversity visa (DV) program, which is designed to make up to 55,000 immigrant visas available worldwide through a random selection process.
Valente was found dead inside a storage closet in New Hampshire, after authorities received a tip from a person with information about the suspect’s whereabouts. The suspension follows the tragic shooting at Brown University that resulted in two deaths, and the separate shooting death of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro shortly afterward.
This immediate halt is understandably causing major problems, and immigration advocates are furious
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the policy shift on X. She stated that she is “immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program” to ensure “no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.” Noem reminded the president fought in 2017 to eliminate the diversity visa following the devastating NYC truck ramming incident, where an ISIS terrorist, who also entered under the DV1 program, murdered eight people.
Immigration advocates argue that the administration is unfairly punishing countless people based entirely on the actions of one individual. Myal Greene, president of World Relief, called the decision “unjust to block the legal immigration processes of tens of thousands of people who have absolutely nothing to do with this offense, except that they happened to have applied for the same type of visa.” Greene believes the administration is yet again leveraging an “isolated evil action” to achieve its larger goal of dramatically reducing legal immigration.
It’s important to remember that Congress established the visa lottery program, so it’s actually unclear whether President Trump has the legal authority to suspend it unilaterally. The DV program specifically prioritizes applicants from countries that have historically low immigration rates to the U.S. Those who are randomly selected are then allowed to apply for a green card, and they still have to meet the same strict standards as anyone else seeking permanent residency.
Targeting an entire immigration pathway based on a single suspect is becoming a recurring policy pattern for this administration. We saw a similar reaction recently when an Afghan national was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a National Guard member in Washington, D.C. In response, the Trump administration placed a hold on all pending asylum applications.
Earlier this year, in August, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also announced that officers must now take a more “holistic” approach to asylum and citizenship applications. This means they are evaluating whether an applicant has “good moral character.”
Published: Dec 19, 2025 03:00 pm