President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would end the popular US green card lottery after a radicalized Uzbek man who entered the country under the program killed eight people in New York.

"I am starting the process of terminating the diversity lottery program," Trump told reporters.

The 1990 program awards US permanent resident visas to around 50,000 applicants from around the world each year. According to Trump, Sayfullo Saipov, who plowed a rented truck into cyclists and pedestrians on a New York City bike path Tuesday, came to the country via the program.

Source: AFP