President Donald Trump has directed the suspension of the United States green card lottery programme, also known as the Diversity Visa Immigrant Programme (DV1).
The directive was announced on Friday by Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, during a press briefing. Noem said the decision followed claims that a suspect linked to shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) entered the United States through the programme.
The DV1 scheme allocates up to 50,000 green cards each year to immigrants selected by lottery. In 2025 alone, nearly 20 million people applied, with about 131,000 selected for further processing. Successful applicants are required to undergo background checks and other vetting procedures before gaining entry into the country.
Trump has long criticised the lottery system, arguing that it poses security risks and undermines merit-based immigration.
However, Oscar Perez, police chief in Providence, Rhode Island, clarified that the suspect, identified as Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national, first entered the US on a student visa in 2000 and became a permanent resident in 2017. Valente was found dead on Thursday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed into our country,” Noem said in a post on X.
The move reflects a pattern in which the Trump administration has cited violent incidents to justify stricter immigration policies. Following a fatal attack on National Guard members in November allegedly carried out by an Afghan national, the administration introduced broad immigration restrictions affecting Afghanistan and several other countries.
Data from the 2025 DV1 programme shows that Portuguese citizens secured just 38 lottery slots. Winners of the programme are typically invited to apply for permanent residency, interviewed at US consulates, and subjected to the same scrutiny as other green card applicants.