By Uche Onyeali
About 902 Nigerians were deported by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, between 2019 and 2024, according to the 2024 annual report of US ICE.
The report revealed that 286 Nigerians were deported from the US in 2019; 199 in 2020; 78 in 2021; 49 in 2022; 152 in 2023 and 138 in 2024, with the country topping the list for African deportations from the US within the past six years.
Senegal came second with 761 deportations, followed by Ghana with 582, and Mauritania the fourth with 491, closely followed by Egypt with 467 during the period.
Other African countries with high numbers are Somalia (406), Democratic Republic of Congo (395), Liberia (379), Kenya (335), Guinea (294), Angola (293), Cameroon (288), Gambia (223) and Sierra Leone (165).
In January, the US agency said 3,690 Nigerians are on the deportation list.
Mexico, US neighbouring country, tops the deportation list with 432, 827 removals within the period under review.
With US President, Donald Trump’s stance against migration, the number of deportees could surge.
In the report, US ICE said its Enforcement and Removal Operations, ERO, directorate identifies non-citizens for removal through law enforcement and intelligence techniques.
The agency said after the identification, it investigates the case and determines whether non-citizens should be removed from the country.
“As part of these efforts, ERO’s targeting operations centers — the National Criminal Analysis and Targeting Center, the Law Enforcement Support Center and the Pacific Enforcement Response Center — deliver real-time leads and referrals to ERO’s 25 field offices to increase the operational efficiency of its targeted enforcement actions.
“Once ERO identifies and locates a non-citizen who is considered a DHS enforcement priority, it investigates the non-citizen’s case to determine removability. When ERO has probable cause, an ERO officer will arrest the
target of the investigation.
“During FY 2024, it conducted 113,431 administrative arrests, including 33,243 at-large arrests, while Homeland Security Investigations conducted 32,608 criminal arrests and seized over 1.6 million pounds of narcotics, over $886 million in criminally derived currency and assets, and approximately $192 million in virtual currency.
“The directorates also identified and/or recovered 1,783 child victims of exploitation,” part of the report reads.
