In a significant move impacting global immigration, the administration of President Donald Trump has officially suspended the United States Diversity Visa Lottery programme. The decision, announced on December 18, 2025, immediately halts a pathway that has granted thousands of immigrants, including many from African nations, the chance to obtain permanent residency in America.
Security Concerns Trigger Immediate Suspension
The suspension was directly linked to the recent violent incidents at Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Authorities revealed that the primary suspect, Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national, had entered the United States through the diversity visa programme. Valente is suspected of killing two students and injuring nine others at Brown University, as well as fatally shooting a professor at MIT, before being found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the programme's pause in a statement on social media platform X, acting under President Trump's direction. She described the suspect as a "heinous individual" who should never have been admitted to the country. This action represents the latest step in President Trump's broader agenda to restrict both illegal and legal immigration, a policy shift that has defined his administration.
How the Suspended Visa Lottery Worked
The Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme, established by an act of Congress, allocated up to 50,000 green cards annually to applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. The programme was immensely popular, with nearly 20 million applications submitted for the 2025 lottery cycle. Winners, who were chosen by a randomised computer drawing, were then invited to apply for lawful permanent residence, undergoing rigorous interviews and the same vetting as other immigrant categories.
For many nations in Africa and elsewhere, this programme represented a crucial legal avenue to the American dream. The suspension therefore delivers a major blow to hopeful applicants worldwide. According to reports, Valente first arrived in the US on a student visa in 2000 but later obtained his legal permanent resident status in 2017 after being selected in the diversity visa lottery.
Legal Challenges and Broader Immigration Agenda
The suspension is widely expected to face swift legal challenges. Critics argue that because the programme is written into law by Congress, the executive branch lacks the authority to unilaterally terminate it. President Trump has long been a vocal opponent of the diversity lottery, consistently framing it as a potential risk to national security.
This move fits into a pattern of the administration using specific violent acts to justify broader immigration restrictions. In a similar instance in November, following an attack by an Afghan national, Trump imposed sweeping restrictions on immigration from Afghanistan and other countries.
The visa lottery suspension is a key component of Trump's comprehensive immigration strategy, which also includes plans for mass deportations, efforts to curtail other legal immigration pathways, and a challenge to birthright citizenship—a case the Supreme Court has recently agreed to hear.
For Nigerians, this development adds another layer of complexity to US travel. While not a full ban, it closes a significant legal route for immigration, coming after the earlier imposition of partial travel restrictions on Nigeria in late 2024. Those restrictions, justified on grounds of national security and information-sharing concerns, already created significant hurdles for Nigerian citizens seeking visas for work, study, or tourism.
