By Ogungbayi Adeyemi S. | adeyemi@ddnewsonline.com
Editor, DDNews |
Nigeria is among 39 countries that will not benefit from the partial relaxation of the strict asylum crackdown imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, CBS News has reported.
The crackdown was introduced following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan man who had been granted asylum in 2025. After one of the victims died in November 2025, the US paused asylum cases to address national security concerns.
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The pause has now been eased for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non-high-risk countries. However, the relaxation does not apply to nationals of countries affected by a travel ban or steep immigration restrictions announced by President Trump in December 2025.
In that proclamation, Trump listed 15 countries including Nigeria subject to partial restrictions on both immigrant and nonimmigrant entry. The full list includes Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
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In a statement to CBS News on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed: “USCIS has lifted the adjudicative hold for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non-high-risk countries. This move allows resources to focus on continued rigorous national security and public safety vetting for higher-risk cases.”
The DHS added that the administration’s “maximum screening and vetting for ALL aliens continues unabated.”
The Trump administration has also frozen all other legal immigration applications filed by nationals of the 39 nations listed on the “travel ban,” including requests for work permits, green cards, and even American citizenship. This suspension, enacted after the shooting of the National Guard soldiers, remains in place.
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The pause in asylum and other immigration cases is part of several policies rolled out by the second Trump administration to tighten the legal US immigration system. The administration has also sought to restrict work permits for asylum-seekers and to re-examine the cases of legal refugees admitted under the Biden administration.
Trump officials maintain that these measures are designed to combat immigration fraud and national security concerns, arguing that vetting procedures became too lax under the previous administration.
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Pro-immigration advocates, however, have accused the administration of punishing legal immigrants who are complying with immigration rules.
For Nigerian applicants, the continued restrictions mean that asylum cases, work permit applications, green card processes, and citizenship requests remain heavily scrutinised or frozen, significantly affecting legal migration pathways.
This development comes as global migration patterns continue to shift amid heightened security concerns and changing immigration policies in major destination countries.
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By Ogungbayi Adeyemi S. (Beedee)
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