(Image source from: x.com/WhiteHouse)
On Thursday, President Donald Trump halted the green card lottery program that allowed the person accused of the Brown University and MIT shootings to enter the United States. Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, mentioned on the social media platform X that she is following Trump's orders to instruct the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to stop the program. "This terrible person should have never been permitted into our country," she remarked. Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old from Portugal, is believed to be involved in the shootings at Brown University, which resulted in the deaths of two students and injuries to nine others, as well as the murder of a professor at MIT. Officials reported that he was found dead on Thursday evening from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to Leah B. Foley, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, Neves Valente received legal permanent residency in 2017. The diversity visa program provides a maximum of 50,000 green cards each year through a lottery for individuals coming from countries that are underrepresented in the U.S., many of which are in Africa. This program was established by Congress, and this recent action is likely to lead to legal disputes. Nearly 20 million people applied for the visa lottery for 2025, and over 131,000 were selected when including the spouses of winners. After being chosen, they must go through a screening process to gain entry into the United States. Out of this, only 38 slots went to citizens of Portugal. Those selected in the lottery are invited to apply for a green card. They have interviews at consulates and must meet the same standards and undergo the same screening as other applicants for green cards. Trump has consistently been against the diversity visa lottery. Noem's statement is another instance of utilizing tragic events to push immigration policy changes. Following a shooting in November where an Afghan man was identified as the attacker against National Guard members, Trump's administration enforced strict immigration regulations related to Afghanistan and other nations.
