The Trump administration his shipped its first planeload of 85 Nigerians, who were in the U.S. illegally, back to Nigeria as the African nation warns U.S. officials to handle deportations “with dignity.”
U.S. immigration officials have detained 201 Nigerians for deportation back to their home country as the first plane with 85 of those detainees landed in Lagos on Monday.
Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, confirmed the arrival on Monday in a post on X with the caption, “US Deportations Begin,” according to Hallmark News.
“The first group will be convicted prisoners — those who committed crimes and are in US prisons. Some of them are those who have clearly violated US immigration laws,” U.S. Ambassador Richard Mills Jr. told reporters in Nigeria.
“They appealed but were denied yet they are still in the US. They have committed immigration crimes, people who have been ordered to leave,” he added.
But Odumegwu-Ojukwu warned the U.S. to act with “dignity.”
“With the new administration in the US, we want a situation where there will be commitments. If there will be repatriation, we want a dignified return,” she exclaimed.
“Will there be any way of ameliorating their pains? This has been of great concern to not just Nigerian nationals in the US but family members in Nigeria who depend on them for survival, children whose school fees are paid for by these diasporans,” she added.
“We are asking as a country whether they will be given ample time to handle their assets or will they just be bundled into planes and repatriated? It will really be traumatic, especially for those who had not committed any violent crime,” Odumegwu-Ojukwu piously proclaimed.
Meanwhile, as Nigerian officials lament having to take back their own citizens who illegally entered the U.S.A., the African country recently celebrated its own campaign of deportations with the announcement that 828 illegal migrants into Nigeria were deported last year.
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