President Donald Trump has suspended the US Green Card Lottery (DV) following the killing of two people in a mass shooting at Brown University last week.

The Portuguese man suspected of carrying out the attack, who was found dead on Thursday, entered the country after winning the European 2017 DV lottery and was granted a green card.

Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noam said the visa program was temporarily suspended in accordance with Trump's directive to "ensure that no more Americans are harmed by this devastating program."

US authorities said they believe the suspect, 48-year-old Claudio Neves Valente, also killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Lurero earlier this week.

The DV Lottery program provides 50,000 visas each year to citizens of countries that have not received sufficient immigration to the United States. This also opens the door to obtaining American citizenship.

Noam said on social media that Trump had previously "fought" to end the program after eight people were killed by a truck in New York City.

The United States has been allowing many immigrants to enter the country through the DV lottery since 1995, and the DV 2027 application deadline was late.