3,690 Nigerians risk deportation US President Trump tightens immigration policies

Some 3,690 Nigerians living in the United States are at risk of deportation as President Donald Trump continues to make good his promise to tighten immigration policies and intensify crackdown on illegal immigrants in his country.

A document compiled by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency charged with the responsibility of protecting America from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security, shows that 1,445,549 non-citizens are on ICE’s non-detained docket with final removal orders as of November 2024.

According to the document entitled “Noncitizens on the ICE Non-Detained Docket with Final Orders of Removal by Country of Citizenship”, Mexico and El Salvador top the list of nations facing the most deportation, with 252,044 and 203,822, respectively.

In Africa, Mauritania tops the list of those at risk of deportation from the US with 3,822 persons, followed by Nigeria with 3,690, Ghana with 3,228, Cameroon with 1,736, and Ethiopia with 1,713.

Others are Liberia with 1,563 persons at risk of deportation, Guinea, 1,897; Egypt, 1,461; Ivory Coast, 1,224; Kenya, 1,282; DRC Congo, 1,098, and The Gambia, 1,035.

Trump, who was sworn in as the 47th President of the US on January 20, had during the campaigns declared a crackdown on illegal immigrants in the country. He quickly followed up shortly after his inauguration by signing a series of executive orders aimed at hardening immigration policies, including the stoppage of citizenship by birth for children of illegal immigrants.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has said it is ready to welcome Nigerians who may be deported from the United States.

The Director of Media and Corporate Affairs at the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abdul-Rahman Balogun, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is overseeing the process.

Balogun explained that an inter-agency committee, including NiDCOM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), has been established to handle the situation if a significant number of Nigerians are deported.

He, however, emphasised that NiDCOM is not currently aware of any Nigerians in the US undergoing deportation procedures.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *