Some Nigerians are returning home secretly from the United States, while others have gone into hiding as President Donald Trump’s administration intensifies its deportation campaign.
According to a report by Punch, many immigrants have stopped going to work as Trump reiterates his support for ICE actions.
The US president kick-started an immigration policy to arrest and remove illegal immigrants immediately after he was inaugurated into office in January 2025,
However, his policy has been met with criticisms by many people in the US and other countries over the cruelty which ICE meted out to immigrants.
People who spoke to the aforementioned publication from the US said some Nigerians had abandoned their workplaces and that many were secretly returning home.
A Nigerian woman recently broke into tears in a viral video on Instagram, lamenting the panic and grief of immigrants in the US.
The woman said she was traumatised by the killing of Pretti, an intensive care nurse at Minneapolis VA Medical Centre.
She said ICE agents killed any immigrants, whether they were US citizens or not.
“It is very traumatising the way these (ICE) people are treating immigrants,” she said. “President Trump, if you want the immigrants to leave America, tell us. Just come out and say, ‘All immigrants, we want you out, whether you are criminal or not.’”
While speaking with the publication, the woman, who asked to be identified as Senior Immigrant, said many Nigerians had resorted to online trading to earn a living due to fear of immigration agents.
She gave two instances.
Her shopkeeper, who had stopped coming to work since December, and a family for whom people contributed money to start a business after they stopped working at their factory.
“My girl, who was working with me in my shop, stopped coming in mid-December. The reason was that she was scared for her life because ICE came to my area. The most unfortunate thing was that they came to her area in New Jersey. Since then, she has had anxiety and fear,” she said.
“People are staying indoors because of the fear of ICE. They get family support from those who work. Two weeks ago, someone called me to say that they were donating to support some families, and they requested that I contribute, which I did. That is where people are.
“Many people just stop working because they don’t have the criteria to work. The family I was talking about worked in a factory, and they stopped because of ICE. They started selling stuff from home.
“Another family cooks, and people start to come and pick it up from their house after they would have ordered online. There are many people with other serious experiences,” she added.
Corroborating the senior immigrant’s explanation, the President of the Nigerian community in the State of Maryland, Chris Ademiluyi, said many immigrants had gone into hiding rather than returning to Nigeria.
Ademiluyi stated that despite the crackdown, the economic and security realities of Nigeria were not better.
“They are in hiding instead. Nigeria is not any better. Some people affected may want to talk anonymously, but they are not talking because of fear,” Ademiluyi said.
She added that her community supports Nigerian-Amerícans, and they were not mostly affected by the predicament.
The Nigerian Centre founder affirmed that many Nigerians were weighing their options between staying in the US and returning to Nigeria.
“We’ve seen cases where a lot of people are self-deporting right now.
“At the center, I’ve seen people who come in and say things like they just want to know what their options are.
“Some of them asked if they would be able to come back to the US if they leave. I will let them know what the options are, and what the law says about that.
“There was a case that I can think of most recently, where some people would advise them that they should not consider leaving the country right now, just because their situation was not as bad.
“They probably came here on a visiting visa. And maybe they have overstayed for a couple of days, maybe not months or years. And you can file a waiver for those if it’s not up to a particular time. So, it’s probably in your interest. We’ve advised people to do so based on their case.
“Now, do I have numbers of those who have actually gone back, and who have taken the advice? The answer is: I don’t know. I don’t have those numbers.”
