United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has suspended the green card lottery program.

In a statement released on December 18th, 2025, the program allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program.

“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said.

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Who is the Suspect and Alleged Cause of Death

Neves Valente, 48, is the prime suspect in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor.

According to officials statement, he was found dead on December 18th, evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

An affidavit from a Providence police detective states that Neves had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000.

In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit.

However, it was unclear where he was during the period between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and obtaining the visa in 2017.

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Approximation of Green Cards Per Year

The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the United States, majorly African countries.

Additionally, nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners.

After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the U.S.

Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.

Sample of Green Card for representation. PHOTO/Courtesy