Many Nigerian illegal immigrants in the United States are now living in fear as the Trump administration enforces strict immigration policies. Reports show that about 3,690 Nigerians face deportation as part of a large-scale crackdown on undocumented iimmigrant.
According to a document from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), over 1.4 million non-citizens have final deportation orders. Among them, 3,690 Nigerians are at risk of being sent back to Nigeria. Mexico and El Salvador have the highest numbers, with over 250,000 and 200,000 individuals facing deportation.
Since Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025, his administration has moved quickly to deport illegal immigrants. Just three days later, 538 people were removed from the country. The US Justice Department has also warned local and state authorities that they must follow federal immigration laws or face prosecution.
A Nigerian immigrant in Florida told Punch that many illegal immigrants, especially Nigerians, have stopped going to work out of fear of being arrested by ICE agents.
He explained the drastic measures he had taken to stay under the radar;
“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,” he said. He went on to describe how his social life had been deeply impacted: “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.”
He works in a factory in Tampa that employs many Nigerians and Africans, but some of his coworkers have also stopped working to avoid being caught. He hopes the strict deportation measures will ease after a few months.
“The fear of Trump is the beginning of wisdom now.”
“We survived Obama’s deportation actions; we will survive this one as well. We hope that the various lawsuits against the immigration policies will slow things down and eventually restrain Trump from carrying them out.”
He explained that he has been in the US since 2013 and has tried many times to legalize his stay, but every attempt failed. He even lost nearly $30,000 in the process. At one point, he considered applying for asylum, but he was advised against it since he had already spent more than three years in the US without proper documents.
“I cannot assume that Nigerians are not their target now and become exposed to them. No. The best self-defence is to stay out of trouble, and the best way to avoid being deported is to stay out of sight of ICE officers.
“The truth is, Trump’s war on illegal immigrants has restricted our movements. People are mindful of where they go now. The situation is like a rat monitoring the presence of a cat before stepping out. Personally, I stopped going to work the first week Trump was inaugurated, and I have not been going to work regularly since. May we not be unfortunate.
“Going back to Nigeria is not an option—not when millions of Nigerians are trying to japa because of hardship and insecurity. My difficult living conditions here are still better than what is considered ‘comfortable’ in Nigeria. However, we hope that this threat will subside in the next few months,” he said.
Another Nigerian immigrant in Columbus, Ohio, also admitted that he avoided work for a week after Trump took office. Although Nigerians are not the main focus of the mass deportation, anyone without valid documents can be arrested and deported at any time.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 201 Nigerians are currently in US custody, awaiting deportation. The ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, stated that the US government must formally inform the Nigerian Embassy in Washington, DC, before sending them back. However, no official deportation date has been announced yet.
With Trump’s administration determined to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history, many undocumented Nigerians are left with uncertainty about their future.
