The United States has halted its annual Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery program, delivering a devastating setback to thousands of Ethiopian applicants who depend on it as their primary pathway to American green cards and citizenship.
President Donald Trump announced the suspension last week, linking it to a deadly mass shooting at Brown University that killed two people. The attacker, described as having carried out an Islamist-inspired assault on Thursday, had entered the U.S. through the 2017 DV Lottery and held a green card.
U.S. authorities also suspect the 48-year-old Colombian national, Neves Valente, of murdering Nuno Lurero, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) technology professor, earlier this week.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem explained that the move follows Trump’s directive “to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this program,” temporarily stopping the visa waiver group as a precaution.
For Ethiopians, the stakes are especially high. The DV Lottery awards around 50,000 visas each year to citizens of countries with low U.S. immigration rates, including Ethiopia—one of the top beneficiaries. In recent years, tens of thousands of Ethiopians have applied annually, viewing it as a rare fast-track to U.S. residency amid limited other visa options. This suspension leaves many hopefuls in limbo, forcing them to explore costlier alternatives like family sponsorships or employment visas.
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