Immigration Sh*ck!” — Trump Halts America’s Green Card Lottery Programme

United States President Donald Trump has suspended the Green Card lottery programme, a scheme through which Claudio Neves Valente had gained entry into the country.....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

The decision was confirmed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a post on X, where she stated that the suspension was carried out at the direct instruction of President Trump. She said the directive ordered the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediately pause the programme.

Valente, a Portuguese national, is believed to be responsible for the shootings at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which left two students and nine other individuals injured. He initially entered the United States in 2000 on a student visa and obtained permanent residency 17 years later through the lottery programme.

The 48-year-old suspect has since been found dead from what authorities described as self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

“This heinous individual should never have been allowed into our country,” Noem said, noting that the Diversity Visa (DV-1) lottery programme issues at least 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from around the world.

Meanwhile, President Trump on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, signed a new presidential proclamation significantly expanding the list of countries subject to U.S. travel restrictions, as part of the administration’s effort to tighten entry standards.

The new order introduces partial travel restrictions on 15 additional countries—many of them in Africa—while imposing full travel bans on several others. Nigeria is among the countries newly placed under partial restrictions.

Under the administration’s policy, “partial restrictions,” as defined in the June 2025 travel ban, generally involve a suspension of immigrant visas—which lead to permanent residency—as well as bans on certain non-immigrant visas, including those for tourism, education, and exchange programmes (B-1, B-2, F, M, and J visas).

The countries newly subjected to partial restrictions are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The proclamation also maintains full travel restrictions on the original 12 high-risk countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

In addition, full restrictions were imposed on five more countries—Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria—based on recent security assessments, as well as on individuals holding travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. Laos and Sierra Leone, previously under partial restrictions, were upgraded to full bans, while partial restrictions remain in place for Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela.

The order lifts non-immigrant visa restrictions on Turkmenistan, citing improved cooperation with U.S. authorities, although immigrant visa limitations for its nationals remain.

Exemptions apply to lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories such as diplomats and athletes, and individuals whose entry is deemed to serve U.S. national interests.

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