Nigeria’s authorities is pushing again in opposition to U.S. efforts to ship the nation migrants and overseas prisoners, with Nigerian International Minister Yusuf Tuggar, seen right here at a summit in Brazil this yr, quoting Public Enemy to drive residence his level.
Mauro Pimentel/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
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Mauro Pimentel/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s authorities says it should resist strain from the Trump administration to simply accept deportees from Venezuela and different third nations.
In an interview with Nigeria’s Channels TV on Friday, International Minister Yusuf Tuggar stated the U.S. was pressuring a number of African nations to simply accept overseas nationals whom the U.S. needs to deport.
“We have already got over 230 million individuals,” Tuggar stated. “Within the phrases of the well-known U.S. rap group Public Enemy — you will keep in mind a line from Flava Flav: ‘Flava Flav has issues of his personal. I can not do nothing for you, man.'”
Tuggar’s feedback mark probably the most high-profile rejections but of the Trump administration’s efforts to deport migrants, underneath risk of tariffs and visa restrictions for nations that refuse. The U.S. authorities has not formally confirmed it’s urgent African nations to simply accept third-country nationals.
This month, the U.S. authorities deported eight males to South Sudan. The deportees, from varied nations — together with Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cuba and Mexico — had been transferred from the U.S. to a navy base in Djibouti in East Africa in Could, they usually had been flown to South Sudan over the weekend after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the best way for his or her removing.
In Could, Rwandan International Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told Rwandan state TV that his authorities was in “early talks” with Washington relating to taking in third-country nationals deported from the US. The U.S. has additionally reportedly approached not less than three different African nations — Benin, Eswatini and Libya— to simply accept deported migrants, one thing that Libya’s U.N.-backed authorities within the west and the navy authorities that controls the east have denied.
This week, the State Division imposed main visa restrictions on residents from Nigeria, Ethiopia and Cameroon. Practically all nonimmigrant and nondiplomatic visas issued to residents of these nations will now be legitimate for simply three months and for a single entry — a part of what the U.S. calls a “international reciprocity realignment.”
The transfer has drawn criticism in Nigeria, the place officers deny that the restrictions are reciprocal and argue they’re as an alternative linked to the nation’s refusal to adjust to U.S. migration calls for.
“Will probably be tough for a rustic like Nigeria to simply accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria,” stated Tuggar. “We now have sufficient issues of our personal. We can’t settle for Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria, for crying out loud.”
The Nigerian authorities says it’s participating with U.S. officers to strike new offers involving vital minerals, oil and fuel — however is not going to negotiate away its sovereignty. “We are going to proceed to face for our nationwide curiosity,” stated Tuggar.
Nigeria’s stance follows reporting by The Wall Street Journal that the Trump administration urged 5 African presidents — who met with President Trump on the White Home this week — to simply accept deportees whose residence nations refuse to take them again.
The summit, formally targeted on commerce, included the presidents of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania. However in his opening remarks, Trump referenced migration coverage: “I hope we will carry down the excessive charges of individuals overstaying visas and in addition make progress on the secure third-country agreements,” he stated.
Trump additionally sparked backlash on the assembly after praising Liberian President Joseph Boakai for talking “such good English” — regardless of English being Liberia’s official language. The nation was based by previously enslaved individuals from the U.S. within the nineteenth century.