THE U.S. President, Donald Trump, has ordered the immediate halt of the green card lottery program after a shooting happened at Brown University.
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On Thursday, December 18, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Trump had directed the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to stop the program.
This decision comes after a gunman opened fire in a classroom at Brown University, killing two undergraduate students.
The U.S. government says the suspected shooter came to America through the diversity lottery visa program in 2017 and was later given a green card.
Noem said, "At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program."
Noem also mentioned that President Trump has long been against the diversity visa lottery, stating that these programs go against U.S. immigration policy.
She added, "In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program following the tragic NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program and killed eight people."
Meanwhile, the suspected shooter, who is from Portugal, killed two students and a professor on December 13, injuring nine others.
However, the shooter was later found dead, and investigators believe it could have been a suicide.
This latest development is a big setback for many countries, including Kenya, which has benefited from the program by giving several Kenyan citizens the chance to enter the U.S.
The Diversity Immigrant Visa, often called the green card visa lottery, is a U.S. government initiative that allows foreigners to come to America at a low cost.
Participants are chosen randomly through a computer system, which allows people to move abroad for education or better job opportunities.
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