The Nigerian government has expressed readiness to welcome Nigerians being deported from the United States. According to the Director of Media and Corporate Affairs at the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abdur-Rahman Balogun, 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.
However, he emphasized that NiDCOM is not currently aware of any Nigerians in the US undergoing deportation procedures.
It is worth noting that approximately 3,690 Nigerians face deportation in the wake of stricter immigration policies under the administration of former President Donald Trump, which has intensified the crackdown on illegal immigrants in the US.
According to a report from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), 1,445,549 non-citizens are on ICE’s non-detained docket with final removal orders as of November 2024. Among these, Mexico and El Salvador have the highest numbers of deportees.
The US government, through ICE, aims to address cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threatens national security. Recently, hundreds of migrants, including Nigerians, were arrested or deported as part of Trump’s mass deportation initiative. It is anticipated that African immigrants, including Nigerians, may be among the next groups targeted for deportation.
