US President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the green card lottery programme, directing immigration authorities to put the scheme on hold. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has been instructed to pause the diversity visa programme with immediate effect.

The decision follows the recent shooting at Brown University that left two students dead and nine others injured. The alleged shooter has been identified as Claudio Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national who, according to officials, entered the United States through the diversity visa lottery and later obtained permanent resident status in 2017.

Noem stated that the suspect’s entry into the country under the lottery programme raised serious concerns about the system’s security. She said the individual should never have been allowed into the US and recalled that Trump had earlier pushed to dismantle the programme after the 2017 New York City truck attack carried out by an ISIS-linked terrorist who had also entered the country via the same route.

The green card lottery, formally known as the diversity immigrant visa programme, provides legal permanent residency to applicants from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the US. Further details on the duration and scope of the suspension are awaited.