- Noem says the suspect entered via DV1 in 2017.
- USCIS ordered an immediate halt to the program.
- The lottery awards up to 55,000 visas annually.
WASHINGTON: US Homeland Security Chief Christie Noem suspended the green card lottery on Thursday, saying it was used by the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting.
Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese man, is accused of breaking into a building at the Ivy League school on December 13 and opening fire on students taking exams, killing two and injuring nine.
He is also accused of killing a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) two days later.
Noem wrote on social media that Neves Valente “entered the United States through the Diversity Lottery Immigrant Visa (DV1) program in 2017 and was granted a green card.”
“At the direction of President Trump, I am immediately directing USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to stop the DV1 program to ensure that no more Americans are harmed by this destructive program,” Noem wrote.
“This despicable person should never have been allowed into our country.”
Neves Valente was found dead by suicide after a days-long manhunt, police said Thursday night.
The U.S. green card lottery grants up to 55,000 permanent resident visas annually to people “from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States,” according to the State Department.
To qualify, applicants must have at least a high school education or two years of training or work experience.
They also go through a screening process that includes an interview.
The Trump administration also plans to increase its efforts to strip the US citizenship of some naturalized Americans, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing internal directives.
The USCIS guidance, issued Tuesday, asks its field offices to “supply the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 demurrer cases per month” in the next fiscal year 2026, according to the newspaper.
The guidance comes as Trump has spent much of this year closing loopholes in the immigration system and putting up roadblocks for people who want to enter and stay in the country.
US President Donald Trump has implemented an aggressive immigration agenda, including imposing travel bans and an effort to end birthright citizenship since January.
His administration recently suspended immigration applications, including green card and US citizenship processing, from immigrants from 19 non-European countries.
— With additional data from Reuters
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