In a major step aimed at strengthening national security, the Donald Trump administration has ordered the immediate suspension of the Diversity Visa Program, widely known as the Green Card Lottery. The decision marks a significant shift in US immigration policy and effectively puts on hold one of the country’s longest-running immigration pathways.
The order was issued by the Department of Homeland Security at the direction of President Trump and is rooted in concerns arising from a series of recent high-profile violent incidents in which immigrants were allegedly involved. Among the incidents cited by the administration are the recent shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which have intensified the government’s scrutiny of existing immigration mechanisms.
The move halts a programme that has long been controversial and frequently criticized by Trump. The president has consistently argued that the lottery-based system prioritizes chance rather than merit and does not adequately ensure that individuals entering the United States meet strict security and eligibility standards.
Announcing the suspension, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a social media post that the alleged shooter in the Brown University attack, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, had entered the US through the Diversity Visa Program. She stated that the individual should never have been allowed into the country and cited his case as evidence of the risks posed by the programme.
Noem also referred to earlier incidents, recalling that President Trump had attempted to dismantle the Diversity Visa system as far back as 2017, following the deadly New York City truck ramming attack carried out by an ISIS-linked terrorist who had entered the US under the DV-1 visa category. She said that, acting on Trump’s instructions, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had been directed to immediately pause the programme to prevent further harm to Americans.
The recent violence that triggered the suspension began on December 13, when 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Manuel Neves Valente opened fire at Brown University, killing two students and injuring nine others. Two days later, he allegedly carried out another fatal shooting, killing Nuno FG Loureiro, a well-known physics professor at MIT, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Valente, who had been residing in Miami and entered the United States through the Diversity Visa Lottery in 2017, was later found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at a storage facility in New Hampshire on December 18, bringing a multi-state manhunt to an end.
The decision to suspend the Diversity Visa Program follows other recent immigration restrictions imposed by the Trump administration. In November, after an Afghan national was identified as the gunman in a deadly attack on National Guard personnel, the administration announced sweeping curbs on immigration from Afghanistan and several other countries.
The Diversity Visa Program allows up to 50,000 people each year to obtain permanent residency in the United States through a lottery system. The programme is designed to promote diversity by offering green cards to applicants from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the US, many of which are in Africa. Interest in the programme remains extremely high; for the 2025 lottery alone, nearly 20 million people submitted applications, with more than 131,000 applicants, including family members, ultimately selected. Those chosen must still pass an extensive background and security screening before being granted entry.
The suspension of the lottery is expected to have little to no direct impact on Indian nationals, as India has been ineligible for the Diversity Visa Program for several years due to its high levels of immigration to the United States.
