Nigerians now hide, avoid quarrels to evade Trump’s deportation – US-based Prof

Nimi Wariboko, a United States-based Nigerian professor of social ethics at Boston University, disclosed that Nigerians in North America now live in palpable fear following Donald Trump’s return to the presidential seat. Wariboko explained that the situation was triggered by the sweeping crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the United States on the order of Trump. Recall that on his second coming to the Oval Office on January 20, 2025, the President signed a raft of executive orders, reversing some of the policies of the Joe Biden administration. Among others, the orders instructed authorities to track down and deport illegal migrants to their countries. The Prof, who spoke virtually from the US on the Friday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television, highlighted how the Trump order is affecting Nigerians. Describing the mood of the Nigerian community in the US barely three weeks after Trump’s resumption, Wariboko said, “Here, of course, there are a good number of Nigerians that don’t have papers. So, there are worries.” ALSO READ: Foreign students fear deportation over Trump visa threat “If you are a pastor, if you are a leader in those communities, you are worried for those people; you have concerns for them. Are they going to be deported? “Some of them are hiding – there is that palpable fear that they could be raided. If you quarrel with your neighbours, they can call the immigration enforcement unit. There is that palpable fear. They are fearful, they are angry, they don’t know what is going to happen.” Wariboko says Nigerians in the US displeased with compatriots at home The Prof said undocumented Nigerian immigrants in America are displeased with their compatriots on Nigerian soil for not being compassionate. ALSO READ: They’re a burden to us – Libya begins mass arrest of Nigerians after AFCON qualifier verdict “They (undocumented Nigerian immigrants) are saying at the end of the day, if this great replacement holds, they are going to be sent back home. Do you have jobs to absorb them?” He added that the proposed reversal of the birth citizenship laws could prove fatal for Nigerians with legal papers. “Even those with legal papers and have acquired US citizenship could still be in jeopardy.” World Bank data shows that remittance from Nigerians living abroad reached $20bn in 2023. Meanwhile, the Professor suggested that the Nigerian government should be interested in defending its citizens in the US because any immigration policies that result in deportation would impact the Nigerian economy, as diaspora Nigerians contribute significantly to the home economy. “They are saying even if you don’t like us, people in the US send billions of dollars home every year to sustain the Nigerian economy, to sustain their families. Even for the sake of economic interest, Nigeria should care about that because there is money that comes from here to sustain different families. “For many families, if they didn’t have people abroad, in Europe, Asia, the United States or Canada, their economic well-being would be below what they have in the country. So, if people know that policies are about defending your economic interest, then they will be defending their fellow citizens because it is in the national interest of Nigeria. ALSO READ: Some illegal immigrants self-deport as US immigration officers begin hunt “If anybody in the world is coming up with policies that will affect the Nigerian economy, the government should defend Nigerians in that regard,” he concluded. According to official records, approximately 376,000 Nigerian immigrants lived in the United States as of 2015, making the West African giants the largest source of African immigration to the US.