Trump Administration Suspends Green Card Lottery After Shootings

President Trump has suspended the green card lottery program following the tragic shootings at Brown University and MIT. The suspect in these shootings, 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, was granted entry into the U.S. through this diversity visa program in 2017.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated that this individual should never have been allowed in the country and announced the pause on the program via the social media platform X. The diversity visa lottery allocates 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from underrepresented countries, predominantly in Africa.

After the recent shootings, which resulted in two student fatalities and the death of an MIT professor, the administration's decision has reignited debates on immigration policy and national security. This announcement could lead to legal challenges, as the lottery was established by Congress, and affects nearly 20 million applicants for the 2025 visa lottery, a pool from which only 131,000 were selected, including spouses.

Trump has historically opposed the diversity lottery, using similar tragedies to pursue immigration policy changes, including restrictions on immigration from various countries after violent incidents involving immigrants.

The implications of this suspension may resonate deeply within the immigration community, as Trump has aimed to limit legal immigration avenues.