Within hours of law enforcement publicly identifying a suspect in the December 13th mass shooting at Brown University and the December 15th killing of Dr. Nuno Loureiro at MIT, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced plans to seek an immediate end to the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV-1) Program, claiming the move was necessary to “ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.” Though I am outraged that our community's pain is being mobilized to cause more harm, I am not surprised. This response follows a long-standing pattern. 

Time and time again, the Trump administration has deployed xenophobic rhetoric in the wake of tragedy to attack immigrants. The New York Times reported that the killing of a National Guard member in late November was leveraged to “cast suspicion on refugees” broadly, and in 2017, following an attack in lower Manhattan that killed eight people, Trump specifically targeted the DV-1 program.

And yet, the data is clear. According to the Cato Institute, 86 percent of mass shootings between 1966 and 2024 in the United States were committed by U.S.-born individuals. Furthermore, the Rockefeller Institute of Government reports that 95 percent of mass shootings are carried out by men, and 55 percent by white individuals—facts that directly contradict racist and xenophobic attempts to use immigrants as scapegoats for gun violence.

Brown students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and community members, sign this petition to make your voice heard: The Brown community condemns the Trump administration for exploiting our pain to end the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. We don’t want an end to DV-1. We want common-sense gun laws. Not in our name.