Overview
- Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she directed USCIS to halt the Diversity Visa program at the president’s direction.
- Officials said suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered through the lottery in 2017 and later became a permanent resident; he was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
- The program, created by Congress and split between State Department consular processing and DHS admission functions, issues about 50,000–55,000 visas annually after interviews and vetting.
- Noem provided no timeline or legal mechanism for the pause, raising questions about executive authority over a congressionally mandated program.
- Immigration attorneys warn thousands of current selectees may be left in limbo; for 2025 nearly 20 million applied and roughly 131,000 people, including spouses, were selected.