The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission has announced that the Federal Government is prepared to assist Nigerians who may be deported from the United States.
In an interview with Vanguard on Tuesday evening, NiDCOM’s Director of Media and Corporate Affairs, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is overseeing the matter.
Balogun emphasized that the government had already formed an inter-agency committee to manage the situation should there be mass deportations.
The committee includes representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NiDCOM, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and the office of the National Security Adviser.
However, Balogun clarified that NiDCOM was not aware of any Nigerians currently undergoing deportation procedures in the U.S.
As a reminder, approximately 3,690 Nigerians are facing deportation as part of former President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. A document obtained by Vanguard from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement provides details of individuals facing removal, which shows the largest numbers of deportations involve citizens of Mexico and El Salvador, with 252,044 and 203,822 individuals, respectively.
The document, dated November 24, 2024, also revealed that 1,445,549 non-citizens have final removal orders on ICE’s non-detained docket.
ICE’s role is to safeguard the United States from threats related to illegal immigration and cross-border crime.
Last Thursday, a significant operation took place, with hundreds of migrants arrested and others flown out of the country on military aircraft as Trump’s promised mass deportation plan began.
The PUNCH reported that Nigerians and other African migrants may be the next targets in this large-scale deportation effort.
