Trump suspends US Green Card Lottery following Brown University shooting

President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the US green card lottery programme in the wake of a deadly shooting at Brown University last week that left two students dead and nine others injured.

The suspect, 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, who was found dead on Thursday in Salem, New Hampshire, entered the United States in 2017 through the Diversity Visa (DV1) lottery programme, commonly known as the green card lottery. Valente was also suspected of killing Portuguese-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro earlier this week.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the visa programme has been paused under Trump’s direction to “ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous programme.” Noem highlighted that the president had previously sought to end the scheme in 2017 after eight people were killed in a truck-ramming attack in New York City.

The diversity visa lottery provides up to 50,000 visas annually to applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the US. Noem cited past cases, including Uzbek national Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic State supporter serving multiple life sentences for the 2017 New York attack, as reasons for suspending the programme.

Authorities discovered Valente’s body following a six-day multi-state manhunt. Police said video footage and public tips led investigators to a car rental location where they matched him to the person of interest. He was found dead from what police believe was a self-inflicted gunshot, with a satchel and two firearms nearby. A car connected to the suspect matched evidence from the Brown University shooting scene, according to Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha.

The Brown University attack occurred on 13 December in the university’s engineering building during final exams. Victims included 19-year-old Ella Cook from Alabama and 18-year-old Uzbek-American student Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov. Officials have not publicly released a motive for the shooting.

Police also linked Valente to the killing of 47-year-old MIT professor Nuno Loureiro at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, about 50 miles from Providence. Both men had attended the same university in Portugal during the late 1990s, officials said. CCTV footage and witness accounts connected the suspect’s vehicle to both crime scenes.

Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente had studied for a PhD in physics at the Ivy League institution from autumn 2000 to spring 2001 but had no current affiliation with the school.

The incidents have reignited debate over the diversity visa programme, which Trump and other critics have long argued poses security risks. The White House and Homeland Security officials have cited both recent and historical attacks involving lottery entrants to justify the suspension.

As investigations continue, federal and state authorities are focusing on piecing together the suspect’s movements and potential motives, while the US government faces renewed scrutiny over immigration policy and visa screening procedures.