The Federal Government of Nigeria has said it is ready to receive its citizens who may be deported from the United States.

This comes as the US is set to launch a massive deportation of immigrants under the administration of US President Donald Trump.

According to Abdur-Rahman Balogun, Media and Corporate Affairs Director at Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in charge of the matter.

He spoke on Tuesday evening. “We have a structured response in place to manage the deportation crisis,” he said.

To manage the situation the government has set up an inter-ministerial committee comprising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NiDCOM, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the Office of the National Security Adviser.

The committee will oversee the reception and reintegration of deported Nigerians should the situation worsen.

Despite this, Balogun said NiDCOM has not received any official report that Nigerians in the US are being processed for deportation. But the possibility is still there given the tightening of immigration policies in the US.

According to recent data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about 3,690 Nigerians are at risk of being deported.

The report by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations is a broader crackdown on undocumented migrants. As of November 24, 2024, 1,445,549 non-citizens have been placed on ICE’s non-detained docket with final removal orders.

Nigeria is not alone in this.

According to the ICE document titled “Noncitizens on the ICE Non-Detained Docket with Final Orders of Removal by Country of Citizenship” Mexico and El Salvador top the list with 252,044 and 203,822 respectively facing deportation. This shows the magnitude of the deportation exercise which cuts across many nationalities.

The US government says this is part of a broader effort to curb illegal immigration and strengthen national security.

ICE is the agency responsible for implementing these policies and identifies, detains and removes undocumented migrants from the country.

In the past few weeks the crackdown has heightened.

Last Thursday hundreds were arrested and some were forcibly removed from the US via military aircraft. This is the beginning of Trump’s mass deportation exercise which will soon affect Nigerians and other African nationals living in the US without proper documentation.

For the affected, deportation means sudden displacement and reintegration challenges.

Nigeria’s preparedness to receive the returnees is a major mitigator. But experts say long term solutions like stronger diplomatic negotiations and improved immigration support system are needed to protect Nigerian nationals abroad.

As the situation unfolds many Nigerians in the US are still in the dark about their future.

For those being deported hope is that Nigeria’s response mechanism will provide the support to ease their transition back home.