Over 3 600 Nigerians face deportation as US intensifies immigration crackdown
Approximately 3,690 Nigerians in the United States are at risk of deportation as former President Donald Trump intensifies efforts to clamp down on illegal immigration.
A document compiled by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations, revealed these figures on Tuesday.
The data, categorized by nationality, highlights the number of individuals with final deportation orders.
The report also disclosed that as of November 24, 2024, a total of 1,445,549 non-citizens are on ICE’s non-detained docket with final removal orders.
In the document titled “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.
The ICE is charged with the responsibility of protecting America from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security.
On Thursday last week, hundreds of migrants were arrested, and others flew out of the country on military aircraft as Trump’s promised mass deportation operation got underway.
This newspaper reports that Nigerians and other African illegal immigrants in the United States may be the next target for deportation by the American government.
The fear of deportation has gripped many Nigerians who are illegally staying in the US following Trump’s declaration of war against illegal immigration.
Trump, on his inauguration day as the 47th President of the US, signed a series of executive orders aimed at hardening immigration policies, including the stoppage of citizenship by birth for children of illegal immigrants.
Trump has signed orders to declare a national emergency at the Mexico-US southern border, stating the deployment of more troops to the area as he threatened to deport “criminal aliens.”
Recently, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia has relented and will allow US military planes to fly deportees into the country after turning two transports back in response to what he called inhumane treatment.
The two leaders had engaged in a war of words on Sunday after Colombia’s move to block Trump’s use of military aircraft in deporting thousands of unauthorised immigrants.
But on Sunday night, the White House released a statement in which it said that because Petro had agreed to all of its terms, the tariffs and sanctions Trump had threatened would be “held in reserve.”
Other penalties, such as visa sanctions, will remain in effect until the first planeload of deportees has arrived in Colombia, the statement said.
“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” it added.
Colombia’s foreign ministry released a statement soon afterwards that read, “We have overcome the impasse with the United States government.”
It said the government would accept all deportation flights and “guarantee dignified conditions” for those Colombians on board.
Petro began the day by announcing that he had turned back US military planes carrying deported immigrants. This set off a furious back and forth with Trump, who in turn announced a barrage of tariffs and sanctions targeting the country, which has long been a top US ally in Latin America.
Trump said on social media that the United States would immediately impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Colombian imports and would raise them to 50 per cent after a week. The Trump administration would also “fully impose” banking and financial sanctions on Colombia, apply a travel ban on Colombian government officials and their associates, and revoke their visas, the president said.
Petro hit back on social media. In one post, he announced retaliatory tariffs of 25 per cent on US imports to Colombia; in another, longer post, he said those tariffs would hit 50 per cent.