• President Trump suspends the US green card lottery program following deadly shootings at Brown University and MIT.
• The suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, entered the US through the diversity visa lottery in 2017.
• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited the program as "disastrous" for public safety.
• Nearly 20 million applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with only 50,000 visas available.
• The suspension is likely to face legal challenges as the program was established by Congress.

President Donald Trump has suspended the diversity green card lottery program, which allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to enter the United States. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the suspension on social media, stating that “this heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” referring to the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, aged 48. Neves Valente is suspected of the shootings at Brown University that resulted in the deaths of two students and injured nine others, and the murder of an MIT professor, Nuno Loureiro. He was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Thursday following a nationwide manhunt, according to SCMP, AA, India Times, BBC.

Noem confirmed that Neves Valente entered the US through the diversity visa lottery program in 2017 and was granted permanent residency shortly afterward. The diversity visa lottery, which allocates up to 55,000 green cards annually, was implemented to allow immigrants from countries with low representation in the US, many of which are in Africa. With nearly 20 million applicants for the 2025 lottery, there were only 38 slots available for Portuguese citizens. Critics of the program argue that the lottery provides a much-needed avenue for legal immigration to the United States, according to India Times, Channel News Asia, Le Monde.

The recent actions of Trump's administration reflect a broader strategy to tighten legal immigration channels and eliminate programs perceived as contributing to crime. Noem indicated that the president’s previous calls to abolish the diversity visa program stemmed from incidents similar to the Brown shootings. The suspension is expected to lead to legal challenges since the program was established by Congress, according to Africa News, LA Times, Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera.