US President Donald Trump Orders to Stop Diversity Visa Program After Recent Campus Attacks

Advertisment

On Tuesday, the US President Donald Trump announced the suspension of the Green Card Lottery Program that offered close to 50,000 immigrant visas annually to people from different countries.

The decision came after a key suspect in the Brown University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shootings was found to have received this immigrant visa under the program. 

Links to Campus Shooting Suspect

The suspect identified in the tragic incidents at Brown University and MIT is a 48-year-old Portuguese named Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. Investigators confirmed he initially arrived in the United States in 2000 through a student visa to pursue physics. Later, he successfully obtained a Diversity Immigrant Visa in 2017, which granted him permanent residency status.

Advertisment

Authorities linked him to the killing of an MIT professor through car rental records and surveillance footage. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated on X that, “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.”

undefined (12)

This case has ignited a fierce debate regarding the vetting standards of the lottery system. This situation suggests a "ghost residency" period where a recipient's life between student status and lottery selection is entirely unmonitored by federal agencies.

Impact on Global Applicants

The sudden suspension of the Diversity Visa program has left nearly 20 million global applicants distressed. The program offered 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries that are underrepresented; two of them include Africa and Europe. 

Advertisment

Critics counter that one criminal act does not prove that all immigrants are criminals, and hence a decision to dismantle a legal pathway harms America's reputation as a global talent hub. The Trump administration insists the pause is necessary to protect public safety and ensure rigorous screening.

This policy focuses more on looking secure for political reasons than addressing the extremely rare violent crimes committed by lottery recipients. It unfairly burdens millions of innocent people who must now go through extra checks, even after passing the initial screening.