THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
*By Steve Ogah
On 20 January 2025, the destiny of most migrants in America took a turn for the worse after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, their fortunes further deteriorating after he signed the “securing our border” executive order, a move that could see undocumented migrants deported from the country in droves.
While many migrants suspected what they were in for when Trump began scheming for a return to the White House, now they are about to have a real taste of his kind of America with many standing in deportation’s way and some having their exit from the country already cemented.
Trump’s substantive rage against migrants hints that he may be incapable of tolerating anything unlike him, his colour, and closeted reality of America. His version, indeed his vision of America is one in which there are no “majority migrant” communities, whether black or white.
In an October 16, 2024 post on X (formerly Twitter), Trump remarked: “Kamala’s support is collapsing with Black voters. Inflation is hell,” adding “worse, their cities are being used as illegal alien dumping grounds. If Kamala gets 4 more years, the Black Community loses its political power forever because their neighborhoods will all be majority migrant.”
It remains unknown if Trump’s migrant nightmare is driven by a substantial personal negative experience. Again, it is unclear if his dreadful view of migrants is informed by a worrying distaste for new entrants into America, whether legal or otherwise.
Africa has its noticeable share in the 1.4 million migrants at the risk of deportation. Nigerians facing exit from America stand at 3,690, and Somalia has the highest figure of Africans at 4,090 nationals. Unsurprisingly, in 2022, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) observed that “the largest disaster displacements were recorded in Nigeria (around 2.4 million), followed by Somalia (1.2 million).” It remains possible that some of those displaced individuals made it into America.
In fairness, Trump’s migrant removals are not entirely unusual. On 4 June 2008, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed 77 Nigerians to Lagos and six Albanians to Tirana, Albania. The ICE clarified that “the majority of those removed had criminal histories and convictions in the United States, including sex crimes, felony drug possession and trafficking, fraud and assault with a deadly weapon.”
The removals, ordered by the country’s immigration courts, were clear signs that America will not allow itself to become a nest of criminals and crimes.
Donald Trump’s America is single-minded about dealing with the migrant problem. By the way, it is great and highly commendable to deal with the influx of undocumented migrants across porous borders, to identify and legally remove those who have broken American laws and threaten public safety and freedom. But an immigration policy must have a human face. It should be executed with dignity and a genuine concern for the migrant’s reality of existence, sensibility and our shared humanity. The image of a migrant dangerously shackled and banished to his homeland hardly cuts the picture of human decency, if he or she hasn’t committed any violent crime known to law.
However, in a shocking reality, Trump’s America bears the hallmark of an insensitive new world where borders are no-go areas for migrants, underlining his desire to establish his own reality of who should be permitted into America and what it means to be allowed in the United States.
But migrants should not be stunned by Trump’s latest deportation orders. All along, he pointed towards the trajectory of his presidency. Notably, his stump speeches and social media posts said a lot about the ordeal that would come for many migrants in America as he worked his way back to the White House, his election campaign manifest with his immigration policies.
Trump and Harris’ campaign were as different and distinct as two disparate campaigns could possibly be. In a manner of speaking, one was white, the other black, one for migrants and integration, and the other for closed, “secured” borders. Clearly, Trump meant his presidency would be a rejection of migrants and Kamala Harris would welcome them.
African migrants should brace up for the brewing storm because signs are indicating troubling times on the horizon in Trump’s America, where it is a bleak world of spite and worrying resentment towards many who stand no chance before the law. Trump’s reality of America is one in which neighborhoods are dominated by majorly Americans, a homogenous society that he longs to establish with his immigration policies. Donald Trump has not identified what the trouble would be if a neighborhood were inhabited by peace-loving, taxpaying, lawful and economically useful migrants.
Trump’s America is not the country most migrants used to know, at least black and African migrants seeking a new life. He has a penchant for white South African refugee farmers, his executive order of 7 February and ambitious migration proposal for Afrikaners further underlining his commitment to this class of people. He has decided to invest them with migration privileges while dangerously neglecting the historically cheated black communities of South Africa, Zimbabwe and elsewhere.
Unlike white South African refugee farmers, black African migrants will only enjoy relief if they succeed in winning Trump’s compassion. There are no clear indications yet that his honest imagination and his subsisting vision of America will offer that acceptance that it inherently has, but is unwilling to render despite the epic history of America as a land of migrants, of refugees.
Without delay, Trump’s America needs to turn a sweet human face towards the plight of genuine African migrants who will be put in harm’s way should they be deported back to Africa. The appalling migrant condition demands careful scrutiny, an answer to the question: why is the migrant in America and not somewhere else?
Far from what Trump imagines, not everyone wants to go to America. The migrant conundrum will not be solved by presidential diktats, rather it demands a root-and-branch inspection that must unravel why migrants long for America so dangerously, lawfully, and otherwise.
Migrants are searching for better lives because their home countries failed to provide something close to the level of amenities, dreams and hopes that America offers. But Trump has insisted that migrants must stay put in their native lands instead of going to America to place pressure on overwhelmed public services. Trump and his presidency can act, intervene and keep these migrants back in their home countries by pressuring their governments to act right regarding credible elections, economic, and social policies for their citizens. Trump has the capacity and influence to act in this direction, he only needs to summon the political will to do the right thing.
President Trump has elicited concerns for migrants’ rights with the way his immigration policies are panning out. With considerable indignities already suffered by people fleeing political violence and hardship, many black and African migrants see Trump’s actions as discriminatory considering how eager he is to welcome white refugee farmers to America.
Arguably, Trump’s deportation orders are further signs that his enduring version and vision of America is an intolerant construct where black and African migrants and their communities are not welcomed in the same way that he is romantic about resettling foreign white farmers from South Africa.
Steve Ogah is the author of The African New Yorker. His writings have been published in Black History Month (UK), The Nation(Nigeria), The African Magazine (USA), Africa Briefing( London), Borderless Journal (Singapore) Independent (Nigeria), and elsewhere. He is active on X @stevewritings and on LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/steveogah
