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By Billal Rahman
Immigration Reporter
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The Trump administration may be seeking to permanently end certain green-card programs but is constrained by existing law, a former top U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) official told Newsweek.
"I think the administration would like to permanently end various green card programs; however, there is a legislative framework set up that would be almost impossible to work around without congressional action," Ricky Murray, who served as USCIS chief of staff for Refugee and International Operations until November, told Newsweek in a statement.
"Even with executive orders, this would not override the statutes and regulations on the books. I believe these 'pauses,' which are undefined in length, are as far as the administration believes they can push the envelope without congressional buy-in."
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The comments came after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the diversity visa lottery program would be suspended following a deadly shooting involving an immigrant who entered the United States through the program.
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Neves Valente, 48, a Portuguese national and former Brown University student, is suspected of opening fire at the university, on December 13, killing 19-year-old Ella Cook and 18-year-old Mukhammad Aziz Umurzoko and injuring nine others.
He is also suspected of the fatal shooting of Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a nuclear fusion scientist and MIT professor, at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on December 15. Police reported that Valente died by suicide and was found Thursday night in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire.
In a post on X, Noem said Valente entered the United States through the Diversity Visa immigrant program in 2017 and was later granted lawful permanent resident status, commonly known as a green card.
"This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country," Noem wrote.
Murray said: "This fits the pattern we continually see under this administration, where one bad actor’s actions are cast onto everyone using that avenue for their immigration processing. They use this blanket rationale to bar entire groups of immigrants and don’t look at any individualized merit or factors in determining whether to approve or deny cases. The U.S. immigration system had always been set up to weigh individual merit, while this administration is attempting to flip the script and box everyone together and look for one misstep to judge them all."
The green-card lottery allocates up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually to applicants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. While recipients are selected through a random lottery, applicants must still meet eligibility requirements related to education, work experience and background checks before receiving permanent resident status.
Any permanent changes to the diversity visa program or other green-card categories would require congressional approval, as the programs are established under federal law.
Office of Homeland Security Statistics estimated there were 12.8 million lawful permanent residents, or green-card holders, living in the U.S. on January 1, 2024.
"Green cards and visas will be revoked if an alien breaks the law," USCIS said on X.
Under the Trump administration, pathways to legal immigration have been significantly tightened. In some cases, migrants have had visas revoked and have been stripped of lawful status, making them subject to removal. Legal experts described these measures as part of an aggressive blueprint for widespread deportations, marking a significant tightening of rules across multiple visa and green-card categories.
The Trump administration is expected to continue enforcing its strict immigration policies, including revoking additional green cards and visas. Officials say these actions are part of the president’s plan to pursue what he describes as the largest deportation initiative in U.S. history.
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