WASHINGTON — The man accused of carrying out a mass shooting at Brown University entered the United States through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program and later received a green card, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
In a post on X, Noem said the suspect, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, entered the country in 2017 through the visa lottery program. She added that, at the direction of President Donald Trump, the administration is moving to pause the program.
“The Brown University shooter entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program and was granted a green card,” Noem wrote. “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country.”
Noem said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been instructed to immediately pause the Diversity Visa Program while the administration reviews its security risks.
According to DHS, the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program allows individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States to apply for permanent residency through a lottery system.
Noem also pointed to previous national security concerns tied to the program, noting that President Trump sought to end the visa lottery during his first term following a deadly ISIS-inspired truck attack in New York City in 2017.
Authorities say Valente, a Portuguese national, was found dead Thursday from what officials described as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators have identified him as the suspect in the Brown University shooting and in the separate killing of an MIT professor.
Brown University President Christina Paxson said Valente had previously been enrolled as a graduate student at the university more than 20 years ago but had no current affiliation with the school.
“Neves Valente was enrolled at Brown as a graduate student from Fall 2000 to Spring 2001,” Paxson said. “He has not been affiliated with Brown since 2003 and was not a current student or employee at the time of the shooting.”
Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attacks. DHS officials say further details about the visa program review will be released in the coming days.
