The President of the United States, Donald Trump, authorized the immediate suspension of the Diversity Visa Program (DV-1), also known as the green card lottery, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed on Friday.
The decision comes after it was revealed that Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the alleged perpetrator of two armed attacks on educational institutions, legally entered the United States thru this immigration system, reigniting the debate over national security and immigration controls.
What is the Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-1)?
The Diversity Visa Lottery was created by the U.S. Congress to promote immigration diversity, allowing the legal entry of citizens from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
Before its suspension, the program granted up to 50,000 permanent residency visas per year, allowing beneficiaries to obtain a green card and settle legally in the country.
National security: The reason behind the suspension
According to Kristi Noem, the program’s suspension was enacted after it was confirmed that Claudio Neves, a Portuguese citizen, had entered the United States on a diversity visa, despite later being identified as responsible for high-impact violent acts.
“It’s to ensure that no other American is harmed by this disastrous program», the Secretary of Homeland Security wrote on her official X account, emphasizing that the alleged assailant should never have been admitted into the country.
Shootings in the United States: the attacks that triggered the measure
Attack at Brown University
According to official reports and U.S. media, Claudio Neves studied at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in 2000. Seventeen years later, he obtained a diversity visa and subsequently permanent residency.
On December 13, Neves was identified as the alleged perpetrator of a shooting inside the university in which two students, identified as Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook, were killed, and nine others were injured.
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Murder of an MIT professor
Authorities also linked this attack to the murder of Nuno Loureiro, a professor and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The academic was shot on the nite of December 15 and died hours later at his home in Brookline, a suburb near Boston.
Discovery of the alleged assailant
The suspension of the DV-1 program was announced days after Claudio Neves was found dead on the nite of December 18 inside a warehouse in New Hampshire.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha reported that the body was found with a backpack, two firearms, and evidence that fully matches the clues gathered at the crime scene in Providence.
Immigration debate and criticisms of the DV-1 program
President Trump’s decision revives the debate over the Diversity Visa Lottery, a program that for years has been questioned by conservative circles, who argue that it does not guaranty sufficiently strict security screening.
Since his first administration, Trump has expressed his rejection of the lottery system, calling it “random” and “dangerous,” and has proposed replacing it with a merit-based immigration model.
The suspension of the program creates uncertainty for thousands of people around the world who were in the process of enrolling or awaiting results to obtain permanent residency in the United States.
