Translated with AI
US authorities have decided to suspend the Green Card program—the DV1 diversity visa lottery—following the shooting at Brown University, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced.
The program's suspension was prompted by the identity of the shooter who opened fire at Brown University on December 14. According to US authorities, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente arrived in the US in 2017 through the Green Card visa lottery and subsequently received permanent resident status. The shooting killed two people, one of whom was Muhammadaziz Umurzakov, a student from Uzbekistan.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – to suspend the DV1 program to ensure that no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program,” said Kristi Noem.
The minister recalled that during his first term, Donald Trump advocated ending the Green Card lottery following the terrorist attack in New York City committed by an immigrant from Uzbekistan. The man in question was Sayfullo Saipov, who struck pedestrians and cyclists on a New York City street along the Hudson River on October 31, 2017. The incident killed eight people and injured more than ten. The court sentenced Saipov to eight consecutive life sentences, two additional concurrent life sentences, and 260 years in prison.
The Green Card Lottery Program was launched by the U.S. Department of State in 1990 and was held annually. Citizens of most countries were eligible to participate, with the exception of countries from which more than 50,000 people immigrated to the United States in the previous five years. Residents of Central Asian countries have traditionally been active participants in the lottery, demonstrating high rates of applications and winners. Uzbekistan is among the leaders in this category. According to the results of the drawing, announced in May 2025, Uzbekistan ranked first in the number of selected winners—5,564 people. This figure was higher than that of Algeria (5,526) and Russia (5,519).
In September of this year, US authorities introduced a one-dollar fee for participating in the lottery. The proceeds were intended to cover annual costs associated with processing and protecting participant data, automatically selecting winners, and maintaining the program's technical infrastructure.
Typically, applications for the Green Card Lottery were accepted in October, but this year, potential participants did not wait for the program to launch.
