Skip to main content

Joe Biden reverses Trump’s immigrant visa ban on Nigerians

Newly elected United States President, Joe Biden, has signed some executive orders thereby lifting the immigrant visa ban placed on Nigerians by his predecessor, Donald Trump.


According to a report by Bloomberg, Biden also reversed the systemic ban placed on citizens from Muslim dominated countries like Yemen.


Trump had last February placed an immigrant visa ban on Nigeria, citing Nigeria’s lack of a robust database. The American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary-Beth Leonard, stated at the time that Nigeria must improve on its data intelligence to ease the investigation of its citizens wishing to migrate to the US, if it wants the ban lifted.


The Nigerian government subsequently set up a committee on Citizen Data Management and Harmonisation, to address the complaints of the US which led to the recent push for all Nigerians to register with the National Identity Management Commission and obtain a National Identity Number.

With Biden’s reversal of Trump’s order, Nigerians will now be able to apply for green cards.

The Bloomberg report reads in part, “The ban that Biden ended, blocked entry to most people from Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, and North Korea. It also restricted immigrant visas for people from Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, and Eritrea as well as for certain others from Venezuela and Tanzania.”


Biden on Wednesday began reversing Trump’s immigration policies, part of an aggressive push to roll back some of the most controversial actions of his predecessor and chart a new course for the nation.


In one of his first acts as president, Biden signed an executive action ending restrictions on travel and immigration from some predominantly Muslim countries. The measure directs the State Department to resume visa processing for those countries and develop a plan to address people affected, such as those who were denied entry to the United States. 


The action also orders reviews of other “extreme vetting” practices used by the Trump administration, while directing the US to improve information-sharing with foreign governments to bolster screening of travellers.

Biden is also proposing a sweeping immigration bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million people living illegally in the US White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday night that the president had sent the text of his proposal to Congress.


The legislation marks a stark contrast with the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict both legal and illegal immigration during its four years in power.


The new president issued a proclamation ordering a stop to the construction of Trump’s wall along the border with Mexico. It rescinds the national emergency that Trump declared to secure funding for the wall.

The travel ban and border wall were the fulfilments of Trump’s central 2016 campaign promises, to crack down on immigration and limit the number of Muslims coming to the US Biden condemned them as an attack on racial and religious minorities.

Just one week after taking office, Trump announced he would suspend entry to travellers from seven mostly Muslim nations: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. The policy also suspended refugee resettlement. Federal judges blocked the first version of the ban from being implemented. A third version went into place following numerous court challenges.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kenyan Law Court dismisses case of man seeking compensation after his wife eloped with another man from hospital

  A lawsuit filed by a man seeking to be compensated by St Mary's Mission Hospital in Kenya for allowing his wife to leave the hospital with another man after giving birth, has been struck out by a law court.    The appellant had sued the St. Mary's Mission hospital at Kakamega law courts in 2020 seeking general damages from the facility on grounds that the hospital had discharged his wife and allowed her to leave with another man. After delivering and at the time of discharge, the wife of the appellant claimed he was the baby's father.   The court of appeal judges Patrick Kiage, Mumbi Ngugi and Francis Tuiyott sitting at the Kisumu Court of Appeal, empathized with the man, but disagreed that he (the appellant) be compensated by the hospital for not detaining his wife.  They upheld the lower court's judgement which added that there's no remedy that lies in the law for such grievances.   Kiage said;   "I agree that if a man takes the woman he loves to t...
Post a Comment
Read more

CJN Tanko unveils panel to hear Atiku’s appeal against Buhari

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed is presiding over the 7-man panel that will hear the appeals filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the February 23 poll. Other members of the panel are Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Amiru Sanusi, Uwani Abaji, Ejembi Eko, John Inyang Okoro and Olukayode Ariwoola. Atiku and his party are challenging the September 11 judgment of the Justice Mohammed Garba-led Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal which affirmed President Buhari’s victory at the polls. The appeals hearing has generated some controversies especially due to the silence of the Supreme Court on the justices that would constitute the panel, with the Coalition of United Progressives Party (CUPP) demanding the use of seniority in selecting them. A senior member of Atiku’s legal team, Chief Chris Uche (SAN), told reporters that they considered it strange that as at ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FRSC reinforces directive on use of google maps while driving

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has clarified its position on the use of Google Maps, The FCT Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Ayuba Gora was quoted saying that driving with the aid of Google map using mobile phones is a serious traffic offence. Gora said this at the inauguration of the 2019 Ember Months Campaign by Lugbe Unit Command of the FRSC in Abuja yesterday. But, FRSC Spokesman Bisi Kazeem making reference to Gora’s comments said the Sector Commander was quoted out of context and his statement outrightly misrepresented. Kazeem said the FRSC as a technology-driven organisation is not and has never stood against the use of Google Maps by Motorists. The statement read: “To state the obvious, we have always enlightened the public on the position of the law on the use of phone while driving. “The statement he made during the flag off buttresses the position of the Corps, which is that any driver who intends to deploy the use of Google Map...
Post a Comment
Read more