A former immigration official stated that it wouldn't be shocking if the Donald Trump administration ended the Green Card program entirely, particularly after it stopped the lottery in light of the actions of the person responsible for the Brown University shooting. It is crucial to note that the Green Card lottery is different from the Green Card programs since it was created especially for nations with lower immigration rates to the US.
The government seems to be following a pattern of ceasing programs in response to specific instances, according to Ricky Murray, who served as USCIS chief of staff for Refugee and International Operations until November.
“I think the administration would like to permanently end various green card programs; however, there is a legislative framework set up that would be almost impossible to work around without congressional action,” Murray told Newsweek.
The administration suspended all immigration applications from Afghanistan and a number of other countries when it was discovered that an Afghan national was connected to a recent massacre in Washington, D.C.
Who was Neves Valente?
Neves Valente, 48, a citizen of Portugal and a former student of Brown University, is alleged to have opened fire at the institution on December 13, resulting in the deaths of 19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzoko, along with injuries to nine other individuals.
{{/usCountry}}Neves Valente, 48, a citizen of Portugal and a former student of Brown University, is alleged to have opened fire at the institution on December 13, resulting in the deaths of 19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzoko, along with injuries to nine other individuals.
{{/usCountry}}Additionally, he is suspected of fatally shooting Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a nuclear fusion scientist and professor at MIT, in his residence located in Brookline, Massachusetts, on December 15. According to police reports, Valente died by suicide and was discovered on Thursday night in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.
Now, the administration has referenced the Brown University shooting and the murder of the MIT professor as reasons for suspending the Green Card lottery, given that the suspect, a man of Portuguese descent, obtained his citizenship through the Green Card lottery.
In a post on X, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem stated that Valente arrived in the United States via the Diversity Visa immigrant program in 2017 and subsequently received lawful permanent resident status, which is commonly referred to as a green card.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Noem said.
One misstep
“This fits the pattern we continually see under this administration, where one bad actor’s actions are cast onto everyone using that avenue for their immigration processing. They use this blanket rationale to bar entire groups of immigrants and don’t look at any individualized merit or factors in determining whether to approve or deny cases,” Murray said, as per Newsweek.
“The U.S. immigration system had always been set up to weigh individual merit, while this administration is attempting to flip the script and box everyone together and look for one misstep to judge them all,” he added.
The green-card lottery provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas each year to individuals from nations that have traditionally experienced low levels of immigration to the United States. Although recipients are chosen via a random lottery process, applicants are required to fulfill eligibility criteria concerning education, work experience, and background checks prior to obtaining permanent resident status.