Kristi Noem halts diversity visa program via which Brown University shooting suspect entered the US
WASHINGTON, DC: On Thursday, December 18, late evening, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem made the announcement that the Donald Trump administration will be putting the diversity visa lottery program on hold.
Noem said Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the accused in the shooting at Brown University, entered the United States through the program in 2017 and was issued a green card.
Kristi Noem suspends 'disastrous' DV1 program to ensure 'no more Americans are harmed'
“The Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card,” Noem wrote on X (formerly Twitter). "This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country."
“In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program, following the devastating NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program and murdered eight people,” the DHS secretary continued.
"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," Noem announced.
Started in the 1990s, the DV program annually grants 50,000 visas to individuals from countries that have a low number of immigrants to the US. Recipients are chosen randomly through a lottery. Every year, tens of millions of people vie for visas through the program.
#FBI Boston's Special Agent in Charge Ted Docks joined @ProvidenceRIPD, @RIStatePolice & our law enforcement partners in announcing the death of the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting and the homicide of MIT Professor Nuno Loureiro. Shortly before 9 p.m., Claudio… pic.twitter.com/Rd9M28wSxX
— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) December 19, 2025
Trump has been a longstanding critic of the diversity visa lottery program
Trump has, for a long time, been opposing the diversity visa lottery program, asserting that it may become a source of security risks and that it lacks a merit basis to the extent that employment-based visas do.
BREAKING 😷 Authorities say Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente carried out the Brown University attack and is also responsible for the murder of MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts. pic.twitter.com/Emec5iF52S
— liveXclique (@liveXclique) December 19, 2025
He pushed to end it early in his first term, after a man who had received a diversity visa killed eight people in a truck-ramming attack in New York City.
Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was a Portuguese national whose last known residence was in Miami, officials said in a press conference on Thursday. Valente was reportedly found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.
This brought an end to the days-long manhunt following the Brown University shooting on Saturday, in which two students were killed and nine others were wounded.
🚨🇺🇸 BREAKING: BROWN SHOOTING SUSPECT IDENTIFIED - AUTHORITIES REVEAL 25-YEAR-OLD CONNECTION TO MIT PROFESSOR KILLED-
— African Observa (@AfricanObserva) December 19, 2025
It's clear that He is not Muslim and he is not tied to Iran.
Authorities announced late Thursday that Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente, the person of interest in the… pic.twitter.com/Dqa3XqvSmU
In addition, authorities believe Valente also fatally shot MIT professor Nuno Loureiro in his Brookline, Massachusetts home on Monday.
