President Donald Trump has suspended the US green card lottery scheme in the wake of a mass shooting at Brown University last week in which two people were killed.
The suspect, a Portuguese man who was found dead on Thursday, entered the country through the diversity lottery immigrant visa programme (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she has paused the visa scheme under Trump's direction to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous programme.
US officials believe the suspect, 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, also killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro earlier in the week.
The programme allocates up to 50,000 visas annually through a random selection process from countries with low rates of immigration to the US.
Noem commented on social media that Trump previously sought to end the lottery after an attack in New York City in 2017 that killed eight.
Valente was discovered in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, dead from what police suspect was a self-inflicted gunshot. A six-day manhunt followed video evidence and tips from the public linking him to the Brown University shooting.
Brown University President Christina Paxson stated that Valente had been an enrolled student there from 2000 to 2001 but had no current affiliation with the institution. Valente shot and killed professor Loureiro at his home shortly before the Brown shooting, leading investigators to link both crimes.
The tragic incident resulted in the deaths of two students at Brown University during finals week and has raised significant concerns over gun violence and immigration policies in the United States.
