Nigeria pushed back on accepting Venezuelans deported from the United States on Thursday, as US media reported President Donald Trump was urging African countries to take in deportees from around the world.
Deporting people to third countries has been a hallmark of the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
“The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the US, some straight out of prisons,” Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said in an interview with Channels Television.
“It will be difficult for Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners,” he added.
Tuggar also suggested the US motivation for threatening tariffs against the BRICS political bloc — of which Nigeria is a member — was related to the issue of deportations.
His comments came as Trump met with the leaders of five west African nations in the White House. His administration was pushing them to accept deportees from around the world, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The president of Guinea-Bissau, who attended the White House meeting with counterparts from Senegal, Liberia, Mauritania and Gabon, told reporters that Trump had raised the issue of deportations to third-countries but “he didn’t ask us to take immigrants back”.
In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportations of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.
Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US administration invoking an 18th century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.
Some of the people were sent to El Salvador despite US judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.
In Africa, the White House has deported third-country nationals to South Sudan, a war-torn, impoverished country.