As reactions continue to trail the planned deportation of about 5,144 Nigerians illegally living in the United States (US), the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has said that the Federal Government is ready to welcome them home.
According to reports, no fewer than 5,144 Nigerians may be affected in the initial stage of the ongoing deportation exercises from the US as President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants continues.
The figure includes non-US citizens of Nigerian origin in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) dockets, non-detained dockets with final orders of removal from the US, and those already in ICE detention.
The data shows 772 of the 1,454 Nigerians in ICE custody were arrested and detained for criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. In contrast, the rest were arrested for other immigration violations, such as visa overstays.
It further showed that 417 were arrested and removed as of November 2024, while 884 were removed between 2019 and 2024.
The disclosure by ICE comes at a time when the newly inaugurated administration of President Trump is implementing an immigration policy aimed at ridding the United States of illegal immigrants.
There have been issues surrounding the deportations with at least three countries, Mexico, Columbia and Brazil, alleging that their nationals were returned home in a degrading manner, and there are fears the treatment could be extended to Nigerian deportees.
Columbia specifically said the deportees to the country were airlifted in military planes, handcuffed and treated like criminals.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the military deportation flights and said he would never carry out a raid to return handcuffed Americans to the U.S.
“We are the opposite of the Nazis,” he wrote in a post on social media platform X.
He also said, however, that Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes and offered his presidential plane to facilitate their “dignified return”.
Trump had threatened tariffs and sanctions on Colombia to punish it for earlier refusing to accept military flights carrying the deportees as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown.
But in a statement, the White House said Colombia had agreed to accept the migrants after all and Washington would not impose its threatened penalties.
The use of U.S. military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is unusual.
