US Halts Diversity Visa Lottery After Brown University Shooting
After a deadly Brown University shooting, the US pauses the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery as investigators probe connections to another campus homicide.
The United States has paused its Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery after a deadly shooting at Brown University, with investigators seeking to understand potential links to other attacks. The pause, ordered by the president, aims to allow a safety review of visa programs during an active investigation.
The suspect, a 48-year-old man from Portugal, entered the United States in 2017 through the Diversity Visa program (DV) and later received a green card. He was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after a six-day nationwide manhunt.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the pause, saying it will prevent further harm while security checks are reassessed. The DV program can issue up to 50,000 visas each year to applicants from countries with low immigration rates.
Brown University student Claudio Neves Valente, 48, had a brief association with the school from late 2000 to early 2001 while pursuing a physics PhD, but officials say he had no current affiliation with Brown. Separately, MIT professor Nuno F. Gomes Loureiro, 47, was killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, two days earlier. Investigators note both men studied at a Portuguese university in the late 1990s.
Police say video footage and tips from the public led them to a car rental location, helping link Valente to the Brown University attack and guiding the six-day manhunt across multiple states. The same vehicle was later connected to the scene of the professor's death, according to the Rhode Island Attorney General.
Authorities have not disclosed a clear motive for either shooting, though investigators say the cases may be connected through the suspect's movements and vehicle traces.
Two Brown University students were killed and nine others injured when a gunman opened fire inside an engineering building during final exams on December 13. The slain students were identified as Ella Cook, 19, of Alabama, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, an Uzbek-American who had just begun his studies.
Expert perspective
Expert comment: An immigration policy analyst notes that pausing the DV lottery signals tighter scrutiny of entry programs and a broader safety review. They caution that investigators' findings will determine whether the two incidents are related.
Takeaway
In short, the diversity visa lottery pause reflects heightened security concerns amid a high-profile campus shooting and a separate homicide, underscoring how investigations can shape immigration policy in real time. The investigation continues, and officials have yet to reveal a definite motive for either attack.
Key takeaway: The pause of the diversity visa lottery demonstrates how national security concerns can prompt rapid changes in immigration policy during active investigations. Source: BBC News
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