Trump Considers Green Card Suspension After Brown University Shooting

A former senior immigration official has warned that the Trump administration could end Green Card programs entirely This warning comes after the immediate suspension of the Diversity Visa Lottery citing the recent Brown University shooting suspect’s immigration path

The suspect entered the US through the lottery program The administration’s action signals a potential broader policy shift focusing on individual incidents to justify sweeping changes

The Trump administration may permanently halt various Green Card initiatives according to a former US Citizenship and Immigration Services chief of staff who served until last November Newsweek reported that Ricky Murray stated the administration would like to end the programs but noted that significant legislative hurdles prevent easy cancellation with Congress required for permanent changes

Recently the administration suspended the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem linked the suspension directly to the tragic shooting The suspect was a Portuguese national who obtained lawful permanent resident status through the lottery in 2017

This follows a pattern seen earlier this year when immigration applications from Afghanistan and other countries were paused after a violent incident in Washington DC linked to an Afghan national Murray criticized this approach saying that one individual’s actions should not be used to judge entire groups and that the US system was designed to assess individuals on their own merit

The policy shift stems from a criminal case involving Neves Valente 48 who allegedly opened fire at Brown University on December 13 killing two students and injuring nine others Valente was also a suspect in the killing of an MIT professor days later Police reports indicate that Valente died by suicide and was found in New Hampshire

Secretary Noem explained the administration’s reasoning on social media stating that the suspect should never have been allowed into the country His lawful permanent resident status was obtained via the Diversity Visa program which provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually targeting countries with low US immigration rates Winners are chosen randomly but must pass education work and security checks

Reuters reporting confirms the administration is using this incident to justify policy changes The move has sparked debate among immigration experts with critics arguing it abandons case by case assessment principles.