The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) has said that the Federal Government is ready to welcome deported Nigerians from the United States.
Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the commission’s Director of Media and Corporate Affairs, told Vanguard on Tuesday evening that such developments were overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Balogun went on to say that the government had already formed an inter-agency committee to address the situation if Nigerians were deported from the United States.
“The Federal Government has set up an inter-agency committee, comprising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NiDCOM, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, and the office of the National Security Adviser, NSA, should there be mass deportation of Nigerians from the US.”
However, the NiDCOM official highlighted that its commission was not aware of Nigerians in America being processed for deportation.
Recall that around 3,690 Nigerians in the United States face deportation as a result of Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.
In a document created by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations, and obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, the agency revealed that the data is split down by nationality and the number of people facing deportation.
It further stated that as of November 24, 2024, ICE’s non-detained docket contains 1,445,549 non-citizens with final removal orders.
According to the document headed “Noncitizens on the ICE Non-Detained Docket with Final Orders of Removal by Country of Citizenship,” Mexico and El Salvador have the highest deportation rates, with 252,044 and 203,822, respectively.
The ICE is in charge of protecting America from cross-border crime and illegal immigration, both of which pose a threat to national security.
Meanwhile, on Thursday last week, hundreds of migrants were arrested, and others flew out of the nation on military planes as Donald Trump’s threatened mass deportation operation began.