Why Did the Trump Administration Halt the Green Card Lottery?

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the immediate suspension of the Diversity Visa Lottery Program (DV1) following revelations that the suspect in a mass shooting at Brown University, Claudio Neves Valente, entered the United States through that program in 2017.

The 48-year-old Portuguese national is accused of killing two students and wounding nine others at the Ivy League school on December 13th, and also killing a professor at MIT two days later.

Noem stated the action was taken “at President Trump’s direction” to ensure no more Americans are harmed by what she called a “disastrous program,” arguing the suspect should never have been allowed into the country.

The suspect was later found dead of an apparent suicide after a multi-day manhunt, bringing a tragic end to the case that has prompted a major shift in US immigration policy.