Some Nigerians have gone into hiding and others are returning home secretly over the intensified deportation campaign led by President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that many immigrants had stopped going to work as Trump reiterated his support for ICE actions.
The sweeping actions, which include house-to-house enforcement raids, have stirred panic, debate and protest, particularly following a series of high-profile deadly incidents involving the federal immigration officers.
The US president kick-started an immigration policy to arrest and remove illegal immigrants immediately after he was inaugurated into office in January 2025,
However, his policy has been met with criticisms by many people in the US and other countries over the cruelty which ICE meted out to immigrants
People who spoke to Saturday PUNCH from the US, said some Nigerians had abandoned places of work and many were secretly returning to their home country.
ICE operations
At least 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025.
Last year is said to be the deadliest in over two decades for deaths in ICE detention.
The Guardian of UK reported that in 2026 alone, no fewer than eight people have died in interactions involving ICE.
The recent cases that have created anxieties were the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
There was outrage when 37-year-old Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 7.
Reports reveal it happened during an enforcement operation, and the medical examiner ruled her death a homicide from multiple gunshot wounds.
Similarly, 37-year-old Pretti was shot and killed by the US federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on January 24, 2026, during a federal enforcement action.
ICE officials, in their operations, have gone from house to house, picking people to detain and deport, enforcing the immigration law of the Trump administration.
Reports say that about 70,000 people have been detained by the ICE officials since the crackdown began, while 540,000 immigrants were deported to their countries.
Immigrant decries raids
A Nigerian woman recently broke into tears in a viral video on Instagram, lamenting the panic and grief of immigrants in the US.
The woman said she was traumatised by the killing of Pretti, an intensive care nurse at Minneapolis VA Medical Center.
She said ICE agents killed any immigrants, whether they were US citizens or not.
“It is very traumatising the way these (ICE) people are treating immigrants,” she said. “President Trump, if you want the immigrants to leave America, tell us. Just come out and say, ‘All immigrants, we want you out, whether you are criminal or not.’”
“These (ICE) people don’t even care. There are a lot of immigrants who are treated like animals, and these people will be telling them, ‘we are citizens’, but they don’t care,” she added in the post which went viral.
While speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the woman, who asked to be identified as Senior Immigrant, said many Nigerians had resorted to online trading in order to earn a living due to the fear of the immigration agents.
She gave two instances.
Her shopkeeper, who had stopped coming to work since December, and a family for whom people contributed money to start a business after they stopped going to their factory work.
“My girl, who was working with me in my shop, stopped coming in mid-December. The reason was that she was scared for her life because ICE came to my area. The most unfortunate thing was that they came to her area in New Jersey. Since then, she has had anxiety and fear,” she said.
“People are staying indoors because of the fear of ICE. They get family support from those who work. Two weeks ago, someone called me to say that they were donating to support some families, and they requested that I contribute, which I did. That is where people are.
“Many people just stop working because they don’t have the criteria to work. The family I was talking about worked in a factory, and they stopped because of ICE. They started selling stuff from home.
“Another family cooks, and people start to come and pick it up from their house after they would have ordered online. There are many people with other serious experiences.”
Corroborating the senior immigrant’s explanation, the President of the Nigerian community in the State of Maryland, Mrs Chris Ademiluyi, said many immigrants had gone into hiding rather than returning to Nigeria.
Ademiluyi stated that despite the crackdown, the economic and security realities of Nigeria were not better.
“They are in hiding instead. Nigeria is not any better. Some people affected may want to talk anonymously, but they are not talking because of fear,” Ademiluyi said.
She added that her community supports Nigerian-Amerícans, and they were not mostly affected by the predicament.
Don’t bury yourself before death
Also, the Lead Pastor of the Lighthouse/Rejuvenation Church in Rosenberg Texas, Shola Adeoye, raised the alarm on Facebook that Nigerians were leaving the US.
The pastor said on Tuesday that Trump’s administration was forcing Nigerians to leave.
“Some Nigerians are moving back home due to fear of this administration. It’s not wise to bury yourself before death,” Adeoye said.
The post generated a lot of reactions on social media as Nigerians differed on the topic.
A Facebook user, Ben Ijeh, said, “Whoever that leaves involuntarily by ICE is not psychologically likely to want to come back in the future. The trauma will be too much to bear. God will always make a way for His own.”
“The way ICE agents capture people could be scary; they may not have the opportunity to get themselves together. So (it is) preferred to time their return home when they can control themselves,” Olukunle Durodolu, another Facebook user, said.
Visa ban at home, opportunity restrictions abroad
A non-profit immigration and cultural organisation based in Washington DC, the Nigerian Center, has recorded an influx of people seeking help over the crackdown by ICE.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Mr Gbenga Ogunjimi, said a lot of Nigerians were suffering from the policy.
He noted that his group, with the collaborative efforts of others, had been providing education and awareness to immigrants.
Ogunjimi said, “The problem we are facing is multi-layered. There is a visa ban. So, let’s even zoom out a little bit. Before the visa ban, Nigeria was designated as a Country of Particular Concern. That was last year.
“Early in December 2025, the administration cited a number of factors, including the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, to move Nigeria to a partial ban. He suspended most visa categories as well as non-immigrant visas for folks in Nigeria to come here.”
He said the US government had denied Nigerian immigrants a lot of opportunities.
“What they did not tell those of us in America or Nigerians in America is that the ban will also stop their ability to file for citizenship, green cards, work authorisation, asylum, and things like that.
“So, we did a few things. Firstly, we thought the people should know. So, if you go to our website and social media, we put out a policy memo, educating people on the parameters of this ban.
“And then the second thing we’re doing is educating people on how to navigate this new terrain. We’re just giving information to folks. On the policy side of things, this is coming to us very soon, very rapidly. We’re working on a few items on the policy side of things.”
Saturday PUNCH gathered that many immigrants had started thinking of self-deportation.
The Nigerian Center founder affirmed that many Nigerians were weighing their options of staying back in the US or returning to Nigeria.
“We’ve seen cases where a lot of people are self-deporting right now.
“At the center, I’ve seen people who come in and say things like they just want to know what their options are.
“Some of them asked if they would be able to come back to the US if they leave. I will let them know what the options are, and what the law says about that.
“There was a case that I can think of most recently, where some people would advise them that they should not consider leaving the country right now, just because their situation was not as bad.
“They probably came here on a visiting visa. And maybe they have overstayed for a couple of days, maybe not months or years. And you can file a waiver for those if it’s not up to a particular time. So, it’s probably in your interest. We’ve advised people to do so based on their case.
“Now, do I have numbers of those who have actually gone back, and who have taken the advice? The answer is: I don’t know. I don’t have those numbers.”
punch.ng
FOLLOW US ON: