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On Thursday, the head of U.S. Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, announced the immediate suspension of the green card lottery program. The decision was made after investigators linked the suspect in a recent mass shooting at Brown University to the program. Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese citizen, allegedly stormed a building at the Ivy League school on December 13, opening fire on students taking exams, resulting in two fatalities and nine injuries. He is also accused of killing a professor at MIT two days later.
Noem shared via social media that Neves Valente arrived in the United States through the diversity visa lottery (DV1) in 2017 and received a green card. At President Trump’s direction, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was instructed to halt the DV1 program immediately to prevent further harm from what Noem called a damaging system. She emphasized that this individual should have never been allowed entry into the country.
Following a manhunt that lasted several days, Neves Valente was found dead by suicide on Thursday evening, police confirmed. The green card lottery typically grants up to 55,000 permanent resident visas each year to individuals from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the U.S. To qualify, applicants must have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, or two years of training or work experience, and they undergo a thorough vetting process including interviews.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is reportedly increasing efforts to revoke U.S. citizenship from certain naturalized Americans, according to internal guidance reported by The New York Times. The guidance, issued on Tuesday, directs USCIS to provide the Office of Immigration Litigation with 100 to 200 cases of denaturalization each month during the 2026 fiscal year. This move aligns with the administration’s broader push to tighten immigration policies, which has included travel bans, efforts to end birthright citizenship, and temporary halts on green card and citizenship applications from immigrants in 19 non-European countries.
The administration’s stance remains aggressive as it seeks to overhaul the immigration landscape, emphasizing stricter enforcement and review of legal statuses.
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