By Peter Omopo
President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the United States Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery, popularly known as the green card lottery, citing national security concerns following recent shootings at university campuses.
The directive was announced on Friday by the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, during a news briefing. According to her, the programme was linked to the entry into the United States of a suspect involved in shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The Diversity Visa Immigrant Programme allows up to 50,000 immigrants annually to obtain permanent residency in the United States through a lottery system. In 2025 alone, about 20 million people applied, with over 131,000 selected to advance to the vetting stage before eventual admission.
President Trump, who has repeatedly criticised the programme in the past, described the suspension as a necessary step to prevent potential security threats.
Providence, Rhode Island Police Chief Oscar Perez confirmed that the suspect in the university shooting, identified as Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, entered the United States on a student visa in 2000 and later obtained permanent resident status in 2017. Valente was found dead on Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Noem said in a post on X, reinforcing the administration’s stance on tightening immigration controls.
The decision marks another instance in which the Trump administration has cited a violent incident as justification for stricter immigration policies, further intensifying debate over the future of the Diversity Visa Lottery programme.
