Nimi Wariboko who serves as a Professor of Social Ethics at Boston University voiced his worries about the pervasive fear affecting Nigerians living in the United States because of President Donald Trump’s administration’s extensive actions against undocumented immigrants.
During a digital broadcast event on Channels Television’s socio-political program Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, Wariboko communicated his ideas through a virtual platform on the Friday edition.
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“Here, of course, there are a good number of Nigerians that don’t have papers. So, there are worrying,” Wariboko said, describing the anxious atmosphere within the Nigerian community in the U.S. barely three weeks after Trump resumed his second term on January 20, 2025.
“If you are a pastor, if you are a leader in those communities, you are worried for those people; you have concerns for them. Are they going to be deported? Some of them are hiding – there is that palpable fear that they could be raided. If you quarrel with your neighbours, they can call the immigration enforcement unit. There is that palpable fear. They are fearful, they are angry, they don’t know what is going to happen.”
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Wariboko observed that a significant number of undocumented Nigerian immigrants harbor resentment towards their fellow countrymen in Nigeria due to what they perceive as an absence of empathetic understanding from them.
“They (undocumented Nigerian immigrants) are saying at the end of the day, if this great replacement holds, they are going to be sent back home. Do you have jobs to absorb them?” he asked.
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He issued a warning about the potential dangers facing Nigerians living in the United States.
Individuals possessing legal residency status or citizenship might encounter difficulties due to Trump’s proposed changes to birthright citizenship laws.
Wariboko presented the case that the Nigerian government needed to adopt a more active stance in protecting its citizens residing in the United States because mass deportations would create substantial economic consequences for Nigeria.
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“They are saying even if you don’t like us, people in the U.S. send billions of dollars home every year to sustain the Nigerian economy, to sustain their families.
Even for the sake of economic interest, Nigeria should care about that because there is money that comes from here to sustain different families,” Wariboko said.
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“For many families, if they didn’t have people abroad; in Europe, in Asia, in the United States or Canada, their economic well-being will be below what they have in the country. So, if people know that policies are about defending your economic interest, then they will be defending their fellow citizens because it is in the national interest of Nigeria.”
