Homeland Security cites Brown University shooter as reason for suspension

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has ordered the immediate suspension of the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery programme following a mass shooting at Brown University. The suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who entered the US in 2017 through the DV programme, was later granted a green card.

“The Brown University shooter entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa programme (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card,” Noem wrote on social media. She added that, at former President Trump’s direction, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was instructed to pause the programme “to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous programme.”

The Diversity Visa Lottery, established by Congress, grants up to 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries with low representation in the United States, many of which are in Africa. The decision to suspend the programme is expected to face legal challenges given its congressional authorization.

Authorities reported that Valente, a former PhD physics student familiar with the building where the shooting occurred, killed two individuals, including a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, in the days following the Brown University rampage. He later died by suicide, according to Providence Police Chief Oscar Perez and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, who confirmed investigators believe he acted alone.

The suspension of the DV lottery has reignited debate over the programme’s security implications and the process of granting visas through a lottery system, which has historically aimed to diversify the US immigrant population.