Trump Stops ‘Diversity’ Program That Allowed Brown University Shooter Into U.S.
President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered an immediate pause on the U.S. diversity visa lottery program following revelations that the man responsible for the Brown University and MIT shootings entered the country through that system.
Authorities identified the shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown University student. Valente, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2017 via the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV1) program, was found dead Thursday night in a New Hampshire storage unit from what investigators say was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “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 Trump administration tried to eliminate the diversity visa program after that 2017 attack, but congressional Democrats blocked the effort. Now, under direct orders from Trump, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will halt all DV1 entries as a new security review is conducted.
The program allows up to 55,000 people from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the U.S. to receive green cards through a lottery system. Critics, including President Trump, have slammed it for lacking proper vetting and increasing national security risks.
Valente, who attended Brown University as a physics student in 2001, was able to re-enter the United States under the program after years abroad. Investigators believe he acted alone in the attack and have not released a motive. He allegedly opened fire inside a Brown University engineering building on Saturday, killing two students and wounding nine others. Days later, he is believed to have murdered MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro in Brookline, Massachusetts.
After a week-long manhunt, police tracked Valente to the storage facility thanks to a tip posted on Reddit, where a user claimed to have seen the gunman’s rental car. The tipster later contacted police directly and gave a detailed description of Valente, reporting a strange conversation that raised suspicions.
Brown University and law enforcement have faced backlash over their handling of the case, particularly for the lack of surveillance footage from the scene. The Barus & Holley building, where the shooting took place, is older and lacked security cameras in key areas.
Providence Mayor Brett Smiley addressed the community Thursday night.
“I know this has been hard on all of us over the past five days,” Smiley said. “Minutes have felt like hours, but the people of Providence have done what we’re best at – we’ve leaned on one another, come together and supported one another, and showed the nation what a tight-knit community looks like.”