The United States government has announced the suspension of its visa lottery program known as the Green Card lottery (DV1) following a shooting incident at Brown University.
This information was shared by the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, via social media.
"Under President Trump’s direction, I have instructed the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to halt the DV1 program to ensure that this disastrous program does not harm any American," Noem wrote.
She noted that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the shooter at Brown University, entered the US through the DV1 program in 2017 and obtained a green card.
"This despicable individual should not have been allowed into our country," Noem stated.
Noem also reminded that in 2017 President Trump sought to end the DV1 program after a terrorist attack in New York where an ISIS militant drove a truck into people, killing eight.
According to The Guardian, Valente, a citizen of Portugal, initially entered the US on a student visa in 2000 and received permanent residency in 2017.
Valente was found dead on Thursday, December 18. Police reported that he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The DV1 visa program offers up to 50,000 green cards annually through a lottery to individuals from countries with low immigration rates.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the visa lottery in 2025, with over 131,000 selected. They must then undergo vetting for permanent residency in the US. Only 38 spots were won by citizens of Portugal.