23 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS CALLING FOR TEMPORARY PROTECTED STATUS FOR NIGERIA
FOR IMMIDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nkechi Illechi
programs@nigeriancenter.org
(202) 330-0352
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX) have led 23 members of Congress in a letter urging Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide protections for undocumented Nigerians in the United States who are fleeing a humanitarian crisis. Specifically, the Congressmembers are requesting that Nigeria be designated for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) due to the recent election-related violence in the country that has resulted in over 100 deaths.
In the letter, the lawmakers emphasized the unprecedented scale and geographic extent of the insecurity in Nigeria, which has resulted in an estimated 3.1 million to 3.3 million internally displaced persons. The members highlighted the human cost of Nigeria’s ongoing armed conflict and underscored the urgent need for action to protect Nigerian nationals in the United States.
The letter follows a call to action led by the Nigerian Center in Washington, D.C., in which over 100 local, state, and national organizations joined together to urge President Biden, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to grant immediate designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Nigeria, as well as Special Student Relief (SSR) for Nigeria.
In addition to Congressmembers Eleanor Holmes Norton Yvette D. Clarke Marc A. Veasey, the letter was signed by Congressmembers Earl Blumenauer Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. Cori Bush André Carson Greg Casar Judy Chu Dwight Evans Valerie P. Foushee Maxwell Alejandro Frost Sylvia R. Garcia Jesús G. “Chuy” García Glenn Ivey Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr. Barbara Lee James P. McGovern Grace Meng Delia C. Ramirez C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger Bonnie Watson Coleman Frederica S. Wilson
The full text of the Congressmembers’ letter is available below for review.
May 9, 2023
The Honorable Alejandro N. Mayorkas Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
301 7th Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20528
Dear Secretary Mayorkas:
We write to request that you protect Nigerian nationals currently in the United States by designating Nigeria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
Federal law provides authority to designate TPS in the case of ongoing armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions. Specifically, the Immigration and Nationality Act provides discretionary authority to grant TPS when “there is an ongoing armed conflict within the state and, due to such conflict, requiring the return of aliens who are nationals of that state to that state (or to the part of the state) would pose a serious threat to their personal safety,” or when “there exist extraordinary and temporary conditions in the foreign state that prevent aliens who are nationals of the state from returning to the state in safety.” Nigeria meets both the armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions frameworks for TPS designation.
At present, Nigeria is facing an extraordinary level of insecurity in terms of the extent and protractedness of armed conflict. Ongoing armed conflict in Nigeria includes violent extremist insurgency in the northeast region by the terrorist groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa, intense gang fighting, violence between farmers and herders and an emergent separatist insurgency movement known as the Indigenous People of Biafra in the southeast region. This armed conflict has recently escalated. Kidnapping and criminality have increased, often fueled by religious and intercommunal polarization. According to the Centre for Democracy and Development, 109 people were killed amid recent election-related violence in February and March of this year.
The scale and geographic extent of insecurity in Nigeria is unprecedented in the country’s history. Military operations are underway against insurgencies nationwide, and military forces have been deployed in each of Nigeria’s 36 states to support internal security.
Nigeria’s ongoing armed conflict has had a dramatic human cost. Estimates suggest the presence of between 3.1 million and 3.3 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria. This does not include an additional 2.1 million “returnees,” formerly displaced people who have returned to their home areas but may not be fully resettled. An additional 336,900 individuals are refugees—that is, displaced outside of Nigeria (mostly in neighboring Niger and Chad). Of particular concern, thousands of children in Nigeria have recently been kidnapped, forcibly recruited, injured or killed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.
The White House has acknowledged the armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, and the State Department has urged travelers to reconsider travel to Nigeria due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest and kidnapping. We urge you to designate Nigeria for Temporary Protected Status.
Thank you for your consideration.
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