President Donald Trump has suspended the U.S. green card lottery program following a mass shooting at Brown University, with the suspect having entered the country through the diversity visa scheme. The suspension, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, aims to prevent future incidents linked to the program.
On December 13, 2025, a gunman opened fire at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, killing two students and injuring nine others during final exams. The victims were identified as Ella Cook, 19, from Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek-American freshman. The shooting prompted a multi-state manhunt that spanned several days.
The suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, was found dead on December 18 in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police linked Valente to the Brown shooting through video evidence and public tips, which led to his identification at a car rental location. He had no current affiliation with Brown but was enrolled as a PhD student in physics for a brief period in 2000-2001.
Authorities also connected Valente to the killing of Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro, who was shot at his home in Brookline on December 15. Both men had studied at the same university in Portugal in the late 1990s, and the same vehicle was spotted near both crime scenes. No motive has been provided for either attack.
Valente entered the United States in 2017 through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1), which randomly selects applicants from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S. He later obtained a green card, granting him permanent residence. Secretary Noem stated that Valente ‘should never have been allowed in our country’ and emphasized that Trump had previously attempted to end the program after the 2017 New York truck attack by an ISIS supporter who also entered via DV1.
The DV1 program, administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, awards up to 50,000 visas annually. It is designed to diversify the immigrant population by favoring applicants from underrepresented nations. The suspension order directs USCIS to pause the program indefinitely, citing security concerns.
This move reignites debates over U.S. immigration policy, balancing legal pathways with national security. Trump’s administration has consistently targeted immigration programs, and this suspension follows a pattern of tightening borders after violent incidents. Critics argue that the program is being scapegoated, while supporters see it as a necessary step to prevent abuse.
Investigations into the Brown University shooting and the MIT professor’s killing are ongoing, with authorities working to uncover any additional motives or connections. The community at Brown and MIT continues to mourn the losses, and the suspension of the green card lottery adds a political dimension to the tragedy, potentially influencing future legislative actions on immigration reform.
