Headline
US-based Nigerians Go Into Hiding Amid Trump’s Deportation Crackdown

Nigerian illegal immigrants in the United States have disclosed that they have restricted their movements to public places to avoid being arrested and deported.
This came as they expressed optimism that they would be protected against deportation by the many lawsuits filed against President Donald Trump over his immigration policies.
Some of the illegal immigrants, who spoke to The PUNCH, said they had refrained from going to work, church, and public places since Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States as a sacrifice to continue staying in the country.
3,690 Nigerians face deportation
About 3,690 Nigerians in the United States are facing deportation, according to a document compiled by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Removal Operations.
The document, titled, ‘Non-citizens on the ICE Non-Detained Docket with Final Orders of Removal by Country of Citizenship,’ shows that Mexico and El Salvador top the list of nations facing the highest number of deportations, with 252,044 and 203,822, respectively.
As revealed in the document, 1,445,549 non-citizens were on ICE’s non-detained docket with final removal orders as of November 24, 2024.
On his inauguration day, Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at toughening immigration policies, including the termination of birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.
The US Justice Department also threatened to prosecute local and state authorities that failed to comply with Trump’s immigration directives, which included a pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
Following the directive, 538 illegal immigrants were deported from the United States on January 23.
READ ALSO: Deportation: Trump Administration Revokes Protected Status For Venezuelans
We no longer go out – Nigerian immigrants
Meanwhile, Trump’s Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, disclosed on her official X handle that the largest deportation operation in history was underway.
Reports had it earlier that Nigerians and other African illegal immigrants in the United States might be the next targets for deportation by the American government.
However, our correspondents gathered that the affected Nigerians had devised means to avoid being deported, expressing fear that their forced return to Nigeria might spell doom for them.
In separate interviews, the illegal immigrants, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being identified, stated that their difficult living conditions in the US were better than returning to Nigeria, citing reports of hardship and insecurity as their major concerns.
One of the affected Nigerians, who resides in Tampa, Florida, said he had stopped going to work to avoid being arrested by ICE operatives.
He said, “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.”
Aside from that, the distressed Nigerian said he had also stopped going to church and other public places, disclosing that the only safe place for him was his house.
“I work in a factory with many other Nigerians and Africans. Some other Africans who are also illegal immigrants have stopped going to work. The fear of Trump is the beginning of wisdom now.
“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.”
However, he expressed optimism that the deportation exercise would be relaxed after some months.
“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.”
READ ALSO: Trump Vows To Appeal Birthright Citizenship Ruling
Asked why he had yet to regularise his documents, he said all efforts to validate his stay in the US had been futile.
According to him, all the systems he tried to obtain valid residency papers didn’t work for him, lamenting that he had lost close to $30,000 in the process.
He said, “I left Nigeria for the US in 2013, and I have been trying to get my papers since then. I was scammed through marriage and other means. In this regularisation process, I have lost close to $30,000. At a point, I wanted to file for asylum, but I was advised against it because I had spent over three years without valid papers. I decided to take under-the-table jobs instead.”
Another Nigerian illegal immigrant in Columbus, Ohio said he stopped going to work for the first week after Trump’s inauguration due to fear of being deported.
According to him, though Nigerians are not the primary targets of the mass deportation exercise, any foreign national staying in the US illegally can be arrested and deported by ICE operatives at any time.
He explained that the first set of illegal immigrants being deported were those with criminal records, noting that the process of deporting others without criminal offences had also begun.
“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.
READ ALSO: Trump Withdraws US From WHO, Paris Climate Accord On First Day Back In Office
Speaking with The PUNCH, a Nigerian journalist in the US said many Africans in the country were anxious about Trump’s immigration policies.
“If they ask all of us to go back to our countries, we will have no choice but to leave. It is their country. If Nigeria were a better place, nobody would have left in the first place, and many of us would be ready to go back home. But unfortunately, our country has been plagued by bad leadership,” he stated.
According to him, the deportation exercise is more welcomed in Republican-controlled states than in Democrat states.
He confirmed that many Nigerians and other Africans had restricted their movements in various parts of the US to avoid being arrested and deported.
“It is true that Nigerians are avoiding public places, including their workplaces and churches, but it is not in every state,” he stated.
Also, a Nigerian Uber driver in New York, who identified himself only as Mathew, said some of his colleagues had been staying home and reducing their movements in the neighbourhoods.
“A lot of my Nigerian colleagues are not coming out for now. They can’t just risk it. They are all afraid of deportation,” he said.
Speaking with The PUNCH, a Nigerian lawyer in the US disclosed that many Nigerian churches had instructed their members who are illegal immigrants to join online services.
“Some people have gone underground. Nigerian churches are advising their congregations to worship online and not come to church if they are undocumented,” he said.
(PUNCH)
Headline
Afghanistan’s Taliban Release US Citizen

Afghanistan’s Taliban government released an American citizen from detention on Sunday, a week after freeing an elderly British couple.
In a statement, the ministry identified the detainee as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, Washington’s special envoy on hostages.
Boehler made a rare visit to Kabul earlier this month to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Taliban government.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan released an American citizen named Amir Amiri from prison today,” the Foreign Ministry on X, using the official name for the government.
“The Afghan government does not view the issues of citizens from a political angle and makes it clear that ways can be found to resolve issues through diplomacy.”
READ ALSO:Taliban Detains 14 For Playing Music, Singing At Afghanistan Private Gathering
Little is known about Amiri’s case, as it has not been widely reported.
An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri, who is 36, “had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024”.
The official added that Amiri would stop briefly in Doha, Qatar for medical checks before continuing back to the United States.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release of Amiri, said he had been “wrongfully detained” in Afghanistan, and thanked Qatar for helping to get him freed.
President Donald Trump “has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home,” Rubio wrote on X.
In January two Americans were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the United States.
READ ALSO:Taliban Court Publicly Flogs Woman For Illicit Relationship, Running Away From Home
Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler.
At least one other US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is being held in Afghanistan. The United States is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The Taliban authorities deny any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.
Just a week ago, Britons Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, were released from a Kabul prison after almost eight months in detention. The Taliban authorities did not say why they were detained.
The couple was arrested in February and first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN experts have said.
READ ALSO:1.4 Million Girls Banned From Afghan Schools Since Taliban Return – UNESCO
The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.
All the releases have been mediated by Qatar.
Both the US and the UK, like many other Western nations, warn against all travel to Afghanistan.
Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government, which has imposed a strict version of Islamic law and been accused of sweeping human rights violations.
Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the group returned to power in August 2021, when most embassies withdrew their diplomatic presence.
The Taliban government says it wants to have good relations with other countries, notably the United States, despite the 20-year war against US-led forces.
Headline
One Dead, Several Injured After US Shooting, Fire At Mormon Church

One person was killed and several others injured Sunday after a shooter targeted a Mormon church in the US state of Michigan, where the building was also set on fire, authorities said.
The suspect, a 40-year-old man from a nearby town, was shot dead by law enforcement after the attack, police said, without specifying any possible motive.
President Donald Trump called the shooting “horrendous” and said on his Truth Social platform it “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.”
Images from the scene showed emergency services escorting people on stretchers and a large plume of dark smoke at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.
READ ALSO:Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead
Local police chief William Renye told reporters the suspect drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church and then began firing at people inside with an assault rifle.
He said the service was active with “hundreds of people within the church.”
Authorities believe the gunman also deliberately set fire to the church before he was killed by responding police officers, Renye said.
Ten gunshot victims were transported to hospital, including one who has died, the official said.
READ ALSO:US Lifts Restrictions On Visa Validity For Ghanaians, Leaves Nigeria’s Unchanged
He added that the fire had been extinguished but that “we do believe that we will find additional victims once we have that scene secure.”
A woman who lives near the church told AFP: “My husband heard people screaming, one lady yelling for help.”
FBI agents are on the scene to assist the investigation, chief Kash Patel said on X.
“Violence in a place of worship is a cowardly and criminal act. Our prayers are with the victims and their families during this terrible tragedy,” he wrote.
Attorney General Pam Bondi also said she had been briefed on the incident.
Headline
Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

Russell Nelson, who headed the Mormon church since 2018, died on Saturday night at age 101, the church announced.
“With sorrow we announce that Russell M. Nelson, beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away peacefully… at his home in Salt Lake City,” it said in a statement, using the church’s official name.
The former heart surgeon was “the oldest president in the history of the Church,” the statement added, without specifying a cause of death.
Utah Republican senator Mike Lee lauded Nelson as a “bold, visionary leader prepared by God to testify of Jesus Christ in the very times in which we now live.”
READ ALSO:Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead
Nelson became the 17th president of the Church in January 2018 at age 93, succeeding Thomas Monson.
Before becoming president, Nelson successfully pushed for the church to label same-sex married couples as “apostates” and bar their children under the age of 18 from religious rites, including baptisms — though that policy was scrapped after he took on the role.
He also broke with his predecessors and cautioned against using shorthands “LDS” or “Mormons” to refer to the church.
Nelson’s successor will be chosen after his funeral by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who like the church’s president are considered prophets by believers.
READ ALSO:Brazilian Jazz Legend, Hermeto Pascoal, Is Dead
The religious leader is survived by his wife, eight of his children, 57 grandchildren and more than 167 great-grandchildren, according to the church.
Founded in 1830, the Mormon church considers itself a Christian body, but bases its doctrines on the Book of Mormon, a text purporting to contain a fuller version of the words of Jesus Christ than that recorded in the Bible.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims a total membership of more than 17.5 million people.
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