On December 19, 2025, President Donald Trump directed the suspension of the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, commonly known as the green card lottery. This program, established by Congress in 1990, annually allocates up to 55,000 green cards through a random lottery to individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S., primarily in Africa and parts of Europe.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the immediate pause, stating it was to ensure "no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program." The decision followed deadly shootings at Brown University (where two students were killed and nine others wounded) and the murder of an MIT professor, carried out by suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who obtained his green card through the program in 2017 after initially entering on a student visa in 2000.
Valente was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Noem described Valente as a "heinous individual" who "should never have been allowed in our country," echoing Trump's long-standing opposition to the program, which he has criticized since his first term, including after a 2017 terrorist attack in New York involving a lottery recipient.The suspension is indefinite and aims to review vetting procedures, though it has sparked immediate legal concerns, as immigration law is primarily set by Congress, not executive action alone.
Advocacy groups are expected to challenge it in court. Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 lottery, with over 131,000 selected (including dependents), all of whom undergo standard background checks and interviews equivalent to other green card applicants. Portuguese citizens, like Valente, received only 38 slots in the latest draw.