02/02/2025
US-based Nigerians go into hiding amid Trump’s deportation crackdown
Nigerian illegal immigrants in the United States have disclosed that they have restricted their movements to public places to avoid being arrested and deported.
This came as they expressed optimism that they would be protected against deportation by the many lawsuits filed against President Donald Trump over his immigration policies.
Some of the illegal immigrants, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH, said they had refrained from going to work, church, and public places since Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States as a sacrifice to continue staying in the country.
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Meanwhile, Trump’s Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, disclosed on her official X handle that the largest deportation operation in history was underway.
Saturday PUNCH had earlier reported that Nigerians and other African illegal immigrants in the United States might be the next targets for deportation by the American government.
However, our correspondents gathered that the affected Nigerians had devised means to avoid being deported, expressing fear that their forced return to Nigeria might spell doom for them.
One of the affected Nigerians, who resides in Tampa, Florida, said he had stopped going to work to avoid being arrested by ICE operatives.
He said, “Ever since Trump came to power and acted on his threat of deportation, some of us have stopped going to work because ICE officers can raid workplaces to arrest illegal immigrants at any time.”
Aside from that, the distressed Nigerian said he had also stopped going to church and other public places, disclosing that the only safe place for him was his house.
“I work in a factory with many other Nigerians and Africans. Some other Africans who are also illegal immigrants have stopped going to work. The fear of Trump is the beginning of wisdom now.
“I don’t go to church anymore because it is possible to be arrested there. For now, the only safe place is your house—stay indoors.”
Asked why he had yet to regularise his documents, he said all efforts to validate his stay in the US had been futile.
According to him, all the systems he tried to obtain valid residency papers didn’t work for him, lamenting that he had lost a lot of money in the process.
He said, “I left Nigeria for the US in 2013, and I have been trying to get my papers since then. I was scammed through marriage and other means. In this regularisation process, I have lost thousands of dollars. At a point, I wanted to file for asylum, but I was advised against it because I had spent over three years without valid papers. I decided to take under-the-table jobs instead.”
He confirmed that many Nigerians and other Africans had restricted their movements in various parts of the US to avoid being arrested and deported.
Maria Ude Nwachi profile
PUNCH
