The Portuguese obtained legal permanent resident status in the USA in 2017
President Donald Trump suspended the visa program that allowed the Portuguese man suspected of killing physicist Nuno Loureiro and two other people at Brown University to enter the United States, in separate attacks.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday that, at Trump’s request, she ordered United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to suspend the program.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed to enter our country,” said Noem, on the social network X, about the suspect, Portuguese Cláudio Neves Valente, 48 years old.
Valente, a former Brown student, was found dead on Thursday night from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Providence, Rhode Island, police chief Oscar Perez announced at a press conference. Perez said that, according to the investigation, the suspect acted alone.
The Portuguese obtained legal permanent resident status in the US in 2017, said Massachusetts Federal Attorney Leah B. Foley.
The visa program, known as ‘green cards’, makes up to 50,000 visas available annually, through a lottery, to people from countries underrepresented in the United States, many of them in Africa.
Trump has long been opposed to this program and the draw, which was created by the US parliament.
Almost 20 million people signed up for the 2025 draw, with more than 131,000 people selected, including spouses.
After being selected, they must pass a check to enter the United States, which includes an interview at consulates and the same requirements as other visa candidates.
Portuguese citizens won only 38 places last year.
Investigators believe that Valente is responsible for the attack at Brown University and the murder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor, Portuguese Nuno Loureiro, who was shot dead at home in Brookline on Monday, according to Leah B. Foley.
Two people died and nine were injured in Saturday’s shooting at Brown University. The investigation changed direction on Thursday when authorities said they were looking into a possible link between the attack on Brown and the death of 47-year-old Nuno Loureiro.
The president of Brown University, Christina Paxson, said that Valente was enrolled at the institution between 2000 and 2001, having been admitted to graduate school to study Physics in September 2000. “He has no current connection with the university,” he added.
Valente and Loureiro attended the same academic program at a university in Portugal between 1995 and 2000, Foley added.
Loureiro, who grew up in Viseu, graduated and did research at the Instituto Superior Técnico, in Lisbon.
A second person, identified as close to the suspect, came forward after Wednesday’s press conference and helped “unravel” the case, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said.
