No fewer than 902 Nigerians were deported from the United States between 2019 and 2024, a new report by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has revealed.
According to the ICE 2024 annual report, Nigeria recorded the highest number of deportations among African countries within the six-year period, followed by Senegal, Ghana, Mauritania, and Egypt.
A breakdown of the deportation figures shows that 286 Nigerians were deported in 2019, 199 in 2020, 78 in 2021, 49 in 2022, 152 in 2023, and 138 in 2024.
Other African countries that witnessed significant deportations during the period include Senegal (761), Ghana (582), Mauritania (491), Egypt (467), 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 2025, the US immigration agency disclosed that 3,690 Nigerians were still on the deportation list.
Meanwhile, Mexico, a neighbouring country to the US, topped the global deportation chart with 432,827 removals within the same timeframe.
ICE explained that its Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) directorate identifies non-citizens for removal using law enforcement and intelligence techniques.
It added that once a non-citizen is identified as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) enforcement priority, further investigations are carried out to determine removability before an arrest is made.
“Once ERO identifies and locates a noncitizen who is considered a DHS enforcement priority, ERO investigates the noncitizen’s case to determine removability.
When ERO has probable cause, an ERO officer will arrest the target of the investigation,” the report stated.
During the 2024 fiscal year, ERO carried out 113,431 administrative arrests, including 33,243 at-large arrests, while Homeland Security Investigations conducted 32,608 criminal arrests.
The agency also reported that over 1.6 million pounds of narcotics, more than $886 million in criminally derived currency and assets, and about $192 million in virtual currency were seized within the period.
Additionally, 1,783 child victims of exploitation were identified and rescued.
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