WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 17: President Donald J. Trump returns to the White House before his address tonight on December 17, 2025 in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump announced the suspension of the green card lottery program following a tragic shooting incident at two universities that left two students dead and nine others injured. Authorities allege that the suspected shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, utilized the diversity lottery immigrant visa program to enter the United States.
The first incident occurred on September 30, 2023, at Brown University, where a shooting claimed the lives of two students. Just two days later, Nuno Loureiro, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was found shot dead in his home, located approximately three miles from the MIT campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Authorities have identified Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, as the primary suspect in both shootings. While the motive remains unclear, he was found deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, on October 3, 2023. Valente entered the country in 2017 through the diversity lottery program known as DV1.
In her statement on social media, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, expressed her outrage, stating, “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.” She praised Trump for advocating against the program since its inception, particularly referencing a prior incident in which a DV1 visa holder committed an attack in Lower Manhattan that resulted in eight fatalities and numerous injuries.
At Trump’s direction, Noem announced that she would immediately instruct the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to pause the DV1 program to prevent further potential harm to American citizens. Details surrounding Valente’s eligibility for entry into the United States in 2017 remain ambiguous, although it is noted that he had previously lived in the country over two decades ago.
The administration’s decision comes amid heightened scrutiny of immigration policies and their implications for national security. Christina Paxson, President of Brown University, confirmed in her statement that Valente had been enrolled in a physics Ph.D. program at the institution in the fall of 2000. However, she clarified that he was not a current student or employee and had withdrawn from the program in 2003 after attending for only three semesters.
As the investigation into these tragic events continues, the impact of the green card lottery suspension on future immigration policy remains to be seen. The fallout from this incident may reshape discussions surrounding security and immigration reform in the United States.
