President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the green card lottery program following the tragic shootings at two prestigious universities in the United States. This decision comes in light of investigations revealing that the suspected gunman, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, allegedly entered the country through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program, known as DV1.
The violence began on March 11, 2023, when a shooting at Brown University resulted in the deaths of two students and injuries to nine others. Just two days later, Nuno Loureiro, director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was found murdered in his home, located approximately three miles from the university campus. Authorities suspect Valente, a 48-year-old national from Portugal, of committing these acts. He died by suicide on March 16, 2023, at a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire.
According to reports, Valente entered the United States in 2017 through the DV1 program. This has raised significant concerns regarding the program’s effectiveness in screening applicants. In a statement on social media, Kristi Noem, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, expressed her outrage, stating, “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.”
Noem emphasized Trump’s long-standing efforts to end the DV1 program, referencing a similar incident in 2017 when a DV1 visa holder carried out an ISIS-style attack in Lower Manhattan, resulting in eight deaths and 18 injuries. She stated, “At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”
Despite the suspension, questions remain regarding what criteria may have allowed Valente to enter the country in 2017. It has been confirmed that he had lived in the U.S. over two decades ago. Christina Paxson, President of Brown University, clarified that Valente was enrolled in a physics Ph.D. program at the university during the fall of 2000 but was not a current student at the time of the shootings. He attended for only three semesters before taking a leave of absence in 2001 and formally withdrawing in July 2003.
The recent events have reignited discussions around immigration policy and the safety implications of the diversity visa lottery program. As the investigation continues, the impact on immigration policy remains to be fully assessed, but the administration’s swift action reflects a determined response to the recent violence.
The situation highlights the ongoing challenges surrounding immigration and public safety in the United States. As authorities continue their investigation into the circumstances surrounding these shootings, the administration’s decision to halt the DV1 program underscores the complexities of ensuring national security while managing immigration processes.
