It is not a right to move to any given country. The Nigerians aren't entitled to enter the USA. If there are problems with their government that is their problem and their responsibility.
6
Immigrating is not a right. It's a privilege which is granted in accordance with a number of requirements outlined by the host country. I've worked more than 20 years in Africa and I've seen Westerners who failed to comply with immigration rules promply expelled.
8
There is a really fascinating op-Ed on Quartz Africa by Nigerian Efosa Ojomo who co-authored the book Prosperity Paradox.
His work with the late Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen is something many Nigerians ought to consider reading. Remittances is not a way to run an economy. Countries need to build up their citizenry and give them hope and empower then to make lasting change.
5
Lets put this in perspective. We are supposed to be concerned that we are blocking travel from Nigeria because they are Africa's biggest economy? Just how big is it? The latest numbers I can find show Nigeria's total gross domestic product is about 124 billion US dollars. Sounds like a lot until you compare it to a single US state. Take my state of Ohio with a GDP of about 550 billion. I think we can afford to lose that crazy Nigerian money if it makes the US safer, which it inarguably does.
4
What have they done to US? Ever? And what about Saudi Arabia?
4
Cheerleaders for unchecked immigration have apparently never traveled to overpopulated, third world countries...where wall-to-wall human beings must compete for every...little...thing.
It’s a high-stress environment where millions fall through the cracks, living on the edge...and this trend is picking up speed in many cities and towns across the country.
Is this your vision for America?
7
what's next a referendum on slavery? after all Senator Alexander said that though what Trump did was wrong (regarding Ukraine) the people support it. why do we bother with a republic and does he (Alexander) even know what that means? I know Prez Trump doesn't.
1
As was pointed out in a comment on another article in today's paper about the aging of the USA white population and its dependence on Social Security and Medicare, immigration brings to the nation the young people who work and pay the freight for both those social programs. The young people in Norway are happy where they are! We should be glad to take the young people of whatever nations want to live with us in peace and prosperity.
What are Trump's motives? Whether or not malevolent is a judgment for his soul but as a matter of good policy, it's just plain foolish! Another reason to be rid of him.
116
@vincentgaglione Well said! I completely agree! We should be rid of Trump completely. It is absurd the laws that he has come up with
8
@vincentgaglione The policy of previous administrations (Democrat and Republican) has been de facto open borders in that most who come into the US and overstay their visas remain here. That's how you end up with almost 20M illegal immigrants. Per your point, yes, we need immigrants, but how you manage that is important. While I don't agree with Trump's method, or even this decision, there has to be some thought to how you meet the challenge you outlined. Educated programmers from India, for example, fill an immediate need at US companies. Uneducated workers from South America to work at Midwestern factory farms and CA fast food joints is just exploitation, and has created an underclass. I'm in favor of rules and policy--not de facto open borders. You can ask what Trump's motives are, but, what are those of his challengers as well?
14
While I agree that we should welcome young immigrants, I would like to remind you that those of us who are dependent mostly on Social Security paid in for that money. The medicare premiums come out of our social security bills. Granted, there are things that can be fixed, but it is not unfixable, and I'm sick to death of hearing what a great burden Social Security is. The burden is people on Wall Street who want all that Social Security money for their coffers so that they can charge seniors fees to manage the money that we earned. Any projected shortfalls could be managed by raising the ceiling on Social Security payments. Of course people who already have more money than they know what to do with will scream bloody murder, and Trump will listen to them.
3
1. Anybody who thinks that these new bans rest on reason and facts and thoughtful deliberation is out of their skull.
2. It might be good to look up what our most-successful immigrant group happens to be, in terms of jobs, education, and money.
3. It might also be nifty to look at our demographics, which say that we badly need immigration.
4. You are also out of your skull if you really believe that this country can slam the doors, and get by Just Fine in a world that’s collapsing as Trumpists like to believe.
Want to take your crackpot notions for a test drive? It’s easy; this coronavirus is likely to help us run the experiement on what happens when we cut travel and trade with China.
Or if you prefer, check the tags on everything in your house. Where was your stuff made? Ever looked at the
Parts tag on your car? Ever wonder where we get a lot of our metals from?
1
Why not block Saudis from coming here?
They come here for flight training and leave Americans dead.
Oh that's right, they have the "President" in their back pocket.
4
These bans have nothing to do with religion! Our White racist president doesn't want any more dark skinned people to come to America. In one past incident long ago Trump discovered a Black Accountant handling his accounts and he said to get rid of him, saying that only skinny people wearing yarmulkes on their heads were to handle his money. He and his most fervent supporters hate Black, Brown, Beige or any other people who aren't lily white.
According to a 2006 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 17 percent of all Nigerians in the U.S. hold a master's degree, 4 percent hold a doctorate and 37 percent have a bachelor's degree.Mar 18, 2012
www.zdnet.com › article › nigerians-have-the-highest-level-of-educatio...
Nigerians have the highest level of education in the U.S. | ZDNet.
Trump's followers don't want Nigerians here because they know that they won't be able to compete with them intellectually. As for physical appearance, the Nigerians are a particularly attractive people, equaled only perhaps by the Kenyans. Look at the intellectual qualifications and accomplishments of Trumps base and you'll see why they are afraid of the Nigerians and other Africans.
4
What is the deportation rate of Irish overstays?
2
“Trump’s travel bans... they’re about discriminating against people of color,” said Sen Hkamala Harris
Really? Try to emigrate from the US to Nigeria, Sudan or Eritrea and tell us how it goes.
6
Funny. Could swear the last terrorist to attack in America wasn’t from Nigeria. That guy shooting on the military base... where was he from again?
Nigeria is the 10th most petroleum rich nation in the world. So, this move makes both Steven Miller AND Putin happy.
7
I what people in the comments are coming from a place of respect when they say how “valuable and educated” Nigerians are, but that’s not really the point. Anybody should be able to migrate here legally and not have to pass some abstract “usefulness” litmus test.
The statue if liberty says "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” Nothing about how useful they might be based on prior education.
9
Luckily, that cheesy poem, written >150 years ago when our population was 1/6th what it is now, was never and is not policy or law. Those days of an u filled continent in need of uneducated, poor easily exploited people no longer exists. Our immigration laws need to reflect reality, not some misty eyed distant past. If you want to live in a crowded, resource depleted, polluted country you have many to choose from. Go there. The opposite? Almost none.
12
@Roman
The Statue of Liberty is not 21st century immigration policy. Meanwhile, we’ve got more than enough “poor, huddled masses” amongst our own citizenry....we don’t need to import them from elsewhere.
20
Until USA ends family based immigration, these types of half-measures will continue. Statistics are fairly clear, one immigrant illegally(queue jumping)/legally (merit based) coming in and sponsoring 10+ people who need to have no skills beyond being blood relatives of that one immigrant is no longer working.
To the lefties who are fuming while reading this paragraph... Europe moved away from this form of migration a decade ago, so did Australia/New Zealand and Canada. Please read this as time to move on.
To the righties who are thinking this is not nearly enough, Family based immigration is the corner stone of illegal migrants... their hope is to be able to one day sponsor those whom they left behind. Take away the hope and solve the problem.
13
@Socrates
The cancer doctor from China who saved my husband’s life would not have immigrated here without his family. That would be true of most skilled immigrants.
Immigration to this country has been a hot mess as long as I can remember. I’ve known Africans, Canadians, Mexicans personally who had to deal with U.S. immigration bureaucracy dating from the mid-eighties through the early 2000s and the inconsistency and incompetence they experienced was shameful. Erratic race based policies aren’t an improvement.
Unlike most other countries, the U.S. has always been a country of immigrants. Immigrants are our strength and core identity.
Of course we need laws, we need borders.
But we also need fairness and compassion, and a reality check on what we owe immigrants. These people vary from my husband’s doctor to the people who build our homes, clean our hotel rooms, tend our gardens, care for our children, and harvest our food. These, too, are valuable occupations, and established American citizens are not going to fill these jobs.
1
Let's not mince words - This president is so racist, and so ignorant and small-minded that nearly every action he takes diminishes our country that much more and for years to come.
Down the road when trade with Nigeria becomes more vitally important, we'll read why this ban shut out the US from it.
8
I'm waiting for 44's successor to impose a ban on retired Slovenian overstayers. Media I-Teams should look into how the in laws were fast tracked to citizenship...
13
If you actually wanted to deal with the illegal visa overstays, you would severely punish employers such a Trump himself who hire illegal immigrants to do work at low pay.
Banning legal immigration doesn't solve any problems - it just create another problem. Under Trump we have gone from 900,000 to 600,000 legal highly educated and productive immigrants per year. Without immigration this country will have a shrinking and aging population - who is going to pay the over $20 trillion in national debt back?
7
I agree that Trump’s motivation in instituting travel bans and closed borders is likely due to racism but it is essential to recognize that the world has profoundly changed. The days of American generosity, open arms, outward focused benevolence have seemingly come to an end and a I’m not so sure this is wrong.
I live in a multicultural, minority- majority, tech influenced city that outwardly seems like it’s doing just great. Yes, the economy seems booming, real estate values soaring, lots of techie jobs (and low pay service work), but on closer look you will find decay, despair and middle class evisceration.
This happened faster than I thought possible and much of this change corresponding with wholesale immigration influxes. I can’t say it’s cause and effect, but when so many native Americans are homeless, jobless and kicked to the curb, I’d say let’s direct our energies and resources to helping them and pause
the immigration.
I get why others want to come here, but that can look selfish when their countries need build their own educated workforce.
7
The country with the most visa overstays in the United States according to a recent article in this paper is India.
It has far greater visa overstays than any country.
Thousands of visas are awarded everyday from India and many overstay.
And, they’re also many Europeans too who overstay their visas or electronic visas to be precise.
So, this decision doesn’t seem to have been about visa overstays, because the largest culprit by far wasn’t included.
7
As a Tanzanian immigrant let me just say this ban isn’t going to stop overstayers if that’s the argument for it. Banning immigrant visas are actually going to incentivise more overstayers not less because you’re shutting down a legal route for immigrants to stay.
Secondly, for all the outrage over illegal immigration, this is now a ban on legal immigration. Often people who legally migrate are those that either have a sponsor, who can afford the cost of sponsoring them and are hence, less likely to use public funds or they have a job and an employer willing to sponsor them. The latter group usually is extremely educated and very hardworking. They pay taxes and hardly receive any benefits. It’s funny to see those complaining about handouts being handed out now complaining when the government isn’t preventing them from having to compete with those from developing nations that are willing to work harder than they are. So why the entitlement? Just work harder and practice what you preach to those you’re angry with for receiving benefits from the state.
As for the overstaying of visas, if some overstay, then deal with that problem, don’t punish those that work hard and contribute greatly to the US. Nigerians are some of the most successful immigrants, to punish them because of some overstayers hurts the US itself, it doesn’t help it.
5
Mr Zere has 9 (nine) siblings scattered across the world. Are we to presume only the US should allow his mother to immigrate? Why?
The idea that there is a "right" to immigrate to the US is repeated by the people illegally crossing our southern border. This is actually not a "right" that is taken, it should be given by the US.
25
@Margo Nigeria needs to get its birth rates way down...it's population is exploding. Also, I agree that the general consensus has become that foreigners are entitled to come to the US if they so choose. This must change. Unfortunately, it led to Trump.
13
@No Planet B
In Nigeria and Africa in general, the number of children you have represents a principal measure of your success as a man or woman. This is what is behind the unsustainable rate of population growth, over-exploitation of resources, destruction of wildlife and the desperate need to emigrate to Europe and the US.
2
They will be OK ... Russia and China will quickly fill the gap and reap the benefits. The U.S.? Forget about it.
5
Where is the ban on Saudi Arabians--you know, the guys who attacked us on 9/11 and whose leadership directed the torture and murder of a US- based journalist?
This ban has nothing to do with combating terrorism.
18
Nigeria should have announced the building of a Trump hotel, a Trump Golf course, or, even better, both. That worked for Saudi Arabia. 99% Muslim, home of Al Queida and other extremists, but - no travel ban. See, that's how it's done.
11
How ironic to see this in the news this morning. Last night a Nigerian immigrant saved my brother-in-law’s life. He is partially disabled and lives in an assisted living facility an hour away from us. He called my wife yesterday, and she could barely understand him, but he managed to communicate he was having trouble breathing. She contacted the nurse on duty at the facility, who said he was “fine”. Despite my wife’s pleas to give him some oxygen, the nurse said she wasn’t able to. So we called his home health care aid—a Nigerian immigrant—who visits him on a regular basis to attend to daily care he needs. She was driving to see another patient, but immediately did a U-turn and went to see him. She determined that his oxygen levels were dropping rapidly, and appealed to the nursing staff to help him, but to no avail. We then decided to have someone there call 911, and he went to a hospital via ambulance, where he is now, in a unit one step down from ICU. He had a similar situation last year, and based on that and what happened yesterday, we think he could have died from neglect if his Nigerian home health care worker hadn’t stepped in. I have always been supportive of a more open immigration policy, and have always been against the restrictions the Trump administration has imposed. But this makes it very personal now. My wife and I would like to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, a Nigerian immigrant for saving her brother’s life last night.
67
Tear jerking one offs, mean nothing. Should we put as much importance on an immigrant that murders somebody and let that guide our policies? For too long our immigration non policy has been governed by emotional, misty eyed readings of poems and talk of an empty America that hasn’t existed for 150 years. Perhaps it’s time to draft policies based on real numbers and real facts and what’s best for the citizens of this country now and looking to a future where by any measure we have a surplus of all people from everywhere.
6
@AL Sophistry. Of course saving a life is important. So, we schools therefore admit the entire populations of Africa, (they'd be glad to come) because of what?
Like others here, no reliable vetting, a radical Muslim population makes the country of Nigeria a dangerous bet on immigration. Couple that with an undeniable gangster population known for international crime and ...Kudos to Mr. Trump
1
It’s really astonishing the degree to which the citizens of other countries feel absolutely entitled to immigrate to the United States...as if our country is obliged to provide access to whomever wants to come here.
The American citizenry is under no such obligation to offer up our country as a pressure release valve for the world’s overpopulated billions. Meanwhile, the United States has become overpopulated...a culturally divisive, environmentally overburdened mess.
Enough! We must stop this incessant drive towards open borders and bring some sanity and order to the chaos in our own backyard.
23
@Susanna
They had reasonable expectation to follow rules previously laid out.
4
@sarah
Are you including the 10s of millions of illegals and visa over stays?
2
So the Democratic position is let’s help Nigeria’s best and brightest leave and never come back. That’s the way forward for economic growth in Nigeria. Great idea.
11
Once again. Who does this benefit? Not the USA. It benefits Russia.
7
Our immigration system is quite like our tax code. No one really understands it. Except those who try to find the loopholes and exploit it. As the climate explodes into disaster after disaster. Our country will become a magnet even greater than it already is. Can we as a nation begin to absorb additional human migration? This is a conversation that is sorely needed by every elected official at ever level of government. None of the Democratic candidates do more than offer sanctuary for the poor and oppressed from other countries. Speaking for myself as a swing voter, I don’t like trump but I also don’t like nothing being done about foreigners showing up and never leaving. Which happens more than not.
37
Exactly. If country allows immigrant from poor nations, it has a responsibility to maintain them. Seriously. USA is not a wild west anymore.
14
@William Ji I love foreigners, citizenship is not an entitlement to exclude others.
5
@William Ji Our population is aging. We need the youth, vigor and enthusiasm hard working immigrants bring to our society. People who have the gumption to cross the sea, to tackle a new language and culture have a vision of hope and energy our nation desperately needs. Immigrants may come from a hard scrabble background but they are committed to a better future for their children and work hard to make it so.
6
Be consoled that Trump will not shut off the importation of Nigerian oil, the principal reason always for US interest in that forlorn land. Do I have first hand knowledge of Nigeria? Yes, indeed I do.
3
Nigeria is a metaphor for the whole planet. In 1950 there were less than 40 million Nigerians. There are now >205 million. When combined with corruption and the corrosive effects of oil extraction, makes for a country that should be doing well, but is a total mess. The US should not be looting countries like Nigeria of its best and brightest (and this has nothing to do with travel bans) but should be helping them to lower their unsustainable, country destroying population growth and to sustainably develop their resources so that Nigerians best hope isn’t to leave Nigeria. We, Nigeria and the entire planet are ridiculously over populated (unless of course you believe climate change and environmental degradation are hoaxes). The way forward is not to move the excess millions to the west, which in the end, will just be overwhelmed anyway, but to lower our population and help other do the same while moving toward a planet and civilization that has room for people and other creatures as well. We are no where near that now, and adding more to the US just makes it worse.
26
@AL, I agree, Nigeria is a metaphor for the whole planet and choosing to disengage with cultural and economic exchanges like immigration and from multiparty trade and environmental treaties makes it look like we’ve forgotten that we are largely a country of people who traveled here for a better shot at life. Taking our ball and going home not only looks hypocritical, it cedes the field to aspirants who don’t have as strong a record on civil rights, democratic institutions, the environmental conservation, and free markets.
As someone who had/has to deal with the US immigration system, I identify with the couple in this story very much. Our lives got put on hold for years, but at least we had hope - more than this couple has. Though it did take a great toll on my husband’s health during that time. I’m sad for all these lives that get toyed with. It is unconscionable and the rational for it pretty questionable.
6
@R.R. Immigration is supposed to benefit the US national interest...not just be a convenience for immigrants who feel entitled to be here.
7
@No Planet B
I’m sorry that my US American husband feels entitled to marry whom he loves.
Why is this being called a travel ban?
Business and tourist visas are still available for Nigerian citizens looking to travel to the United States.
This change in policy is related to immigration specifically.
Additionally, many here in Nigeria see this more as a reflection on lack of proper governance within the state and not about some type of prejudicial policy by the current White House.
24
So if these countries greatly improve their background checks to find out who is a terrorist and prevent them from traveling to the US, they will be allowed the access they had. Why haven’t news media asked their secret sources and leaks for classified information about what the government knows about threats to the US and then published that information?
10
@William McCain There is nothing the Nigerian government knows and hasn't shared with the US. The US is a major consumer of Nigerian oil, a major partner in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria, a major source of foreign investment and one of the country's largest military/weapons supplier.
Since the US was never in the business of supplying weaponry to countries that harbor terrorists who attack US interests, you can bet your bottom dollar that this has nothing to do with terrorism.
3
They’ll ratchet up the racism all the way through November. Hopefully come January they’ll be out of office - if not I expect they’ll be even more extreme.
13
Bravo for economically struggling Americans! We Americans are not the policeman, social worker or breadbasket for the world.
18
I was infuriated with the way the travel ban was implemented in 2017---no planning, incomplete information, innocent people suffering---it was ridiculous. The current treatment meted out to Iranian students is equally infuriating. I have no complaints about the principle of a travel ban. Only its implementation. Announce it clearly, implement it cleanly. The US can and should be able to decide who it wants in, even if it ends up hurting the US in the long run. I don't think the US owes it to the world to be fair in its immigration policy. It's your country, you make the rules.
24
It’s a calculation by the likes of Miller to try to preempt what they know is the future of the Republican Party.
Nigerians, though affiliated with the evangelical movement, will almost never vote for republicans. Period.
And the states where they migrate to the most? Texas and Georgia will be impacted significantly.
It’s absolutely the right of the US to ban immigration if they want to, however this is a selective approach based on race.
Maybe something good might come out of this to keep talent back in Nigeria to make the change the country desperately needs.
Also what is now any motivation for the Nigerian government to maintain any diplomatic ties with US? This might have just pushed them to China and Russia and we will have Stephen Miller to thank for helping build Putin’s empire.
8
Expanding ignorance and fear, while reducing educational and economic opportunities and intra-family support - the perfect recipe for fostering terrorist activity.
To level set once again in the face of our collective mounting ignorance: fifteen of the September 11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, and the rest were from UAE, Lebanon, and Egypt.
Nigeria is not on that list - just as Saudi Arabia is not targeted by Trump's travel ban. I'm all for battling when there's a fight to be won - I'm a born scrapper. But Trump's lies, and his sloppy, inconsistent mandates go beyond embarrassing and demeaning us - he poses a clear and present danger well beyond his intended victims.
14
@common sense advocate I agree, except it needs to be noted that trump and his Mob are trying to reduce educational and economic opportunities for US born citizens also. No plans to help our children get an education unless they can pay for it, limiting poor children in the economic ladder.
Trump and his mob has big financial ties with the Saudis and needs to keep hatred of the Iranians going to justify paying billions to Israel, one of the most prosperous countries in the mid east. It's the way the game is played, without Iran, Israel is no longer a victim, so keep up the hate.
5
While there is nothing wrong with someone wanting to find opportunity in another country, there are myriad important reasons we should shrink our population in the U.S, not grow it. One person here wrote that we need an endless supply of immigrants to keep our economy going. This is incredibly short-sighted. As natural habitat and resources disappear under a huge and growing human population, as dozens of animals in the U.S. move toward extinction largely because of human population pressures, and as immigrants with a small climate footprint come to the U.S. and turn into people with a large climate footprint, what we need for a sustainable economy is less immigration and a shrinking population, not a growing one. We need to get away from consumerism as a key driver of the economy too, as resources shrink, and trash increases. And lastly, growing our population is morally indefensible in terms of how the already huge American population is destroying natural habitat and killing off so many other living things.
24
It is stunning that readers who claim to care and to be be “woke” about the environment are blind to the single greatest threat to the US and the planet. Population growth. The US population has doubled since 1950. Nigeria’s has quadrupled from <40 million to over 200 million. The planet has gone from 2.5 billion to 7.8 billion in the same time period. How can anyone look at these numbers and think this can continue, or think that we can go on absorbing the worlds xs people as the left says we should?
13
@AL
You want fewer people, you educate women and give them access to birth control. That’s what works.
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/opinion/kristof-the-birth-control-solution.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Needless to say this Administration will support neither of those goals.
Haven’t heard the guys pushing this cause talking about it either.
1
@chockpea
Agreed, but that has nothing to do with flooding the US with more people. Our population, for exactly the reasons you state, would be falling except for, wait for it, immigration. Instead we have by far the highest population growth rate of any developed country due almost solely from immigration. That is not the way forward for us or the planet. Infinite population growth, on a finite planet is always going to be a loser for all of us. There is no getting around that.
2
So the "very stable genius" who claims to be the smartest businessman in the world even after bankrupting a casino has now cut us off from Africa's largest economy, even as China and Russia are racing to increase their business and influence in Africa. Not content with doubling our deficit and starting a trade war with China, Trump keeps looking for new ways to reduce our GDP.
12
Remember when these travel bans were supposed to be a TEMPORARY measure? Hah!
Back in 2017, "Trump's lawyers will have to convince the Supreme Court that a temporary ban is necessary, even though it was supposed to expire before it was actually implemented, and months before the case is heard."
6
Actions speak louder than diplomatic protests and sob stories in American media of Nigerians longing to escape Nigeria for a life here, thus confirming Trump’s description of their country.
In response to Trump’s Travel ban, Nigeria and other African countries under the travel restrictions have the right to recall their diplomats, break diplomatic relations, and break with Western organizations like the former colonial dominated Commonwealth and Francophone economic zone nations. The severance of diplomatic relationships could lead to African regional confederation of small states into large ones, increasing domestic market, local communications, industrialization and manufacturing trade development among regional African and continental states. Think of a model like the newly independent United States, Japan, or China!
Fewer African governments in regional governments could well lead to a more powerful African presence in international affairs. But the first step needs Africans like Nigerians to make lemonade, as it were, out of the travel ban lemons that Trump has given them.
9
This is barbaric.
7
This ban does seem based on data: there’s a high visa overstay rate by visitors from these countries; and that’s how most undocumented folks end up here ( not by “sneaking” in). This is a reasonable move that makes far more sense than a wall.
60
@GBR They’re not banning visitors visas. They’re banning immigrant visas, completely different class of visas. So they’re not tackling the issue they claim to want to deal with. Why bar immigrants when your issue is with visa overstays?
54
@Cosmos if the visitor visa is being treated as a defacto immigrant visa, why bother with an immigrant visa?
14
@Margo Highly educated Nigerians who qualify for immigrant visas will not come be illegal in the US. They will take their engineering, medical and accounting talents to countries like Canada, Australia and Germany.
17
The US has a growing Nigerian community, a community that is following the same path as the Irish and Italians of a century ago.
It's a highly educated group, many with university degrees, and fluent in English. If Trump really meant it when he says he wants merit based immigration many more Nigerians would be allowed to come and would help make the country wealthier like all those immigrants before them.
But we all know what the problem is from Trump's point of view. It's so obvious we don't need to mention what it is.
215
As clear as black and white
139
Is the question allowed why, these wonderful young people, who, being able to study abroad, obviously belong to the “privileged” strata of society in their country, do not go back to serve their own people? It is not exaggerated to think that these emerging countries are in dire need of bright, well educated young people, more than any so called “developed” country. Leaving these countries in the hands of a sclerotic and corrupt oligarchy will certainly not raise them from poverty, chaos and crime.
44
@Paul Eckert Why didn’t the Germans that immigrated to the United States go back to Germany, or the Irish to Ireland, or the Italians to Italy, or the Polish to Poland etc. ? I could go on here.
60
Is it ethical to drain the best and brightest and most honest from Africa anyway? Africa needs them and this will pressure the kleptocracy to crack down on Islamic terrorists who are murdering the powerless, poor in the countryside. It is worse for the individuals who would have come but is better overall for the country and the population.
13
@Allright It is ethical to let people live where ever they want. Freedom means giving people who have the means and the ability to choose their own destinies. The Irish and the Italians did it and their countries today are better than they have ever been. I wonder why now it's a problem, maybe the ones who are coming now do not fit your view of what Americans should look like.
12
All right, allright; you're kidding, right?
This newly mindless Trumpian impulse is punitive and self-defeating across the board. It will not encourage talented people to remain at home to build better economies there; the best among them will simply move elsewhere. Hard-working talent that we need here will stay away from a hostile America, to our loss.
The policy is gratuitously cruel, and cruelty never served anybody's interest.
15
@Allright
There's some honesty to saying that all countries can set their own immigration rules however they like.
Pretending that they do so to benefit OTHER countries is sophistry. We don't care at all what happens to Nigerians. That's the truth.
1
Kamala Harris is correct, just plain racism. Everything Trump does now is to help him win in November, this will play well with his base.
19
Let us start by correcting this misleading headline. It isn't a travel ban at all but it does restrict permanent status applications.
Once we move past the hate bait, what's wrong with restricting permanent visas for citizens of countries who lack appropriate ID safeguards internally? Nothing.
23
There is anecdotal evidence that travel visa applications at US embassies and consulates in Nigeria are being rejected at a higher than previous rate.
3
With a population of 320 million and growing, why exactly would the US need additional human beings? Expand the ban to more countries.
31
We simply can't accept the billions who are poor and want to come here. The focus instead should be on improving the deplorable conditions in those areas, and the best start to that process would be for those best minds to stay and fix their own countries.
30
The US president has the right to regulate immigration unless Congress passes laws that overrule his decisions.
On the other hand, this ban does not address illegal immigration at all. People still can obtain a tourist visa then stay after it has expired. It only messes up the vetted immigrants who may contribute to the country’s economy. So in this aspect it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Now if the goal is to prevent more non-white people to come to live legally in the US, then it makes perfect sense...
6
First of all, it really doesn't help the developing world when the "best and brightest" can just leave. It's called a brain drain. Second, these countries have passport control problems and visa overstay problems. And please don't forget that it is a privilege, not a right to visit America. Lest we forget, Trump ran and won on out of control immigration--and the Democrats don't seem to have learned a thing. Get ready for another 4 years of nightmare because the Democratic Party is perceived as the party of "come on in our borders are gone."
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"Perceived"...their presidential candidates have called for decriminalizing illegal border entries and abolishing ICE...so hardly a perception but a fact.
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This article portrays immigration to the United States as if it were a right for people of Nigeria or other countries from Africa and Asia to emigrate to our country. They have no such right and the U.S. government has every right based on the Constitution to regulate immigration for a variety of purposes. In Nigeria's case, that country is one of the most corrupt in the world and restrictions on immigration should put pressure on the government to reform. Legal immigration into the U.S. is a privilege wherever you come from, not a right, and we should treat it as such.
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These countries are now within their rights to deny entrance to citizens of the U.S.
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@Sue That has always been the right of every country. And I would hazard a guess that none of the countries on the list were in your travel plans.
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@Seatant
Actually, I have been to Tanzania and would love to go back.
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Some comments have suggested that this restriction is targeted at, and therefore justified, because of “overstays” - those who legally enter on a temporary visa and remain beyond the required period of authorized stay. But this ban relates to ALL visa applicants. Thus people who would otherwise be entitled to permanent resident visas - like those married to US citizens, doctors willing to work in medical shortage areas and research scientists to name a few - also “need not apply.” Justification? None.
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@Maggie
That is incorrect.
There is no ban on tourist or business visas for Nigerian nationals wishing to travel to the US.
My Nigerian friends here in Lagos can apply for and receive travel visas either for business or tourism to the United States.
There seems to be some misperception with many Times readers.
Nothing is preventing Mr. Nwegbe from joining his wife in Nigeria. This educated man can help his country.
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How can this arbitrary and racist decision be legal in a democracy?
Right, we don’t live in a democracy anymore.
Silly question, my bad.
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Simples: Unlike Saudi Arabia, trump doesn’t have hotels or any business interests in Nigeria.
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Right, in this case cruelty and xenophobia is the point.
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Saudi Arabia. That’s all you need to know about how this ban has nothing to do with combatting “Islamic terror” and everything to do with Stephen Miller’s white supremacist worldview punishing the most vulnerable. The piece seems to scan around for a rationale for this expanded ban and conveniently overlooks what many have been saying for years: Donald Trump’s administration is built on racism.
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Why Tanzania? I travelled there just a few years ago - peaceful, developing, loved America. They have an incredible program initially for the deaf and now all disabled to keep them employed.
This president is a horror - and it’s clearly up to Democrats to save America - no matter WHO the candidate is
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Did you even read the article or only the headline...these countries have lax passport issuance standards and security. Once they get up to the standards other countries have had to meet to be in compliance with US regulations, they can apply for reinstatement of their visa privileges.
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@Barbara Franklin "Peaceful"? Perhaps, but not if you are a member of the LGBT community, as the government is supporting the persecution, physical assault and imprisonment of LGBT peoples.
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@CA Oh, and THAT's surely the reason Trump did this
Will the courts intervene? They better.
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Trump weakens us with this decision. It makes us look obviously weak as well. It is the action from a viewpoint which assumes we are too fragile to do anything but hid behind our walls. Its the mentality of a declining power that lacks self confidence.
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More hyperbolic rhetoric about racism when the countries were generally selected based on their double -digit illegal visa overstay rates, much higher than the world average of about 2% (as reported in this paper yesterday) and inability to comply with security procedures. Other countries that were on the potential restriction list were taken off after increasing security procedures, also as reported by this paper in the past week.
People are treating this policy like the “Muslim ban” which, despite trumps islamiphobic tweets, wasn’t a Muslim ban at all (it did not restrict Saudi Arabia, India or Indonesia, the most important and populous Muslim countries in the world).
People are so eager to see racism in the Trump administration that they will see it anywhere and in everything. I say this as someone who loathes the trump administration but who believes the democratic reaction to half his policies, like this one, is unhinged nonsense.
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@Big Cow
Visa overstays relate to people who enter on temporary visas, including visitors. If those were the focus, then restrictions would relate to them. This blanket ban shuts out applications for permanent resident visas - like people married to US citizens. Those citizens, by the way, must prove financial support of the sponsored person. Your argument doesn’t hold up.
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@Big Cow
If solving visa overstays is the motivating factor, why are they still issuing visitor visas to these countries and only barring immigration from them? Majority of visa overstays come from those on visitor visas which are completely unaffected by this order.
Logically the only take I can see from this is that it is based on racism. If they claim that the ban is for safety reasons then why are still allowing visitors from these nations? You tell me what reason they could have to to only bar immigration but still allow visitors from these nations? That’s where the administrations goals become clear. They want to stop immigration from majority black countries and they picked the biggest target.
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@Maggie I'm not making an argument. I'm making an observation. I'm not asserting the trump administration's method will help it achieve its ostensible goal. In any event, there's no reason the U.S. has to act proportionally to achieve its ends; Trump is just bullying Nigeria into doing what he wants. This is as good a way to bully the country as any, I suppose.
Lookit:
Nothing is ever going to happen with Africa because they have nothing of great value to export.
What do you want to do? Set up a bunch of factories that can make things cheaper? We've seen how that worked out.
Africa has nothing to sell that it isn't selling already to the rest of the world, and it's maxed out in tourism too.
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Chocolate, diamonds, coffee, and rare earth minerals necessary for the electronics industries are a few examples of “valuables” coming out of Africa.
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@Chris Manjaro
I have two physicians who came here from Africa.
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Mind boggling the varied array of opportunities this President has squandered. I sure hope coal and steel are worth it.
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Headline: Why barriers?
This article speaks of a young couple who is separated by new immigration laws that have been put into action by our president Donald Trump. What is the purpose of shutting countries from one another? That is my main question for this law. I notice that we also have barriers for Mexico. I find it hard to believe that we have immigration laws for both Nigeria and Mexico that supposedly have the same reasoning. There has to be some other reason no one is speaking of.
I wonder why America is so closed off to other countries and other cultures. If we as people don't know their culture, that makes us and them both ignorant for just assuming things about the countries.
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@Amaya Hinson America is among the most diverse countries in the world. Perhaps only Canada is more diverse, and even that's a question mark. But for some reason you seem to think even that isn't enough. Why are you only asking certain countries to be super-diverse, but not others? Let me direct your argument to countries like Japan, Turkey, Argentina, Iran, and China: how can they be "so closed off" to others? Why don't they institute open borders? Why doesn't Pakistan invite millions of random people? Why doesn't Russia? America already passes that test with flying colors, thank you very much. Direct your concerns to the more homogenous places.
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If Trump really wants to help Nigeria succeed, here is a suggestion Nigerians will applaud; Don't punish the innocent, poor, desperate, hungry, confused, talented, young and energetic Nigerian citizens who want to escape the misery and poverty caused by the Kleptocracy and Thuggery of the Nigerian ruling class since 1960. President Trump, instead ban every elected and appointed Nigerian politician, government official, retired generals and their family members from migrating, visiting and keeping/maintaining foreign accounts in the US.
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It's always worth keeping in mind Trump's strategic purpose of decisions like this: to be able to portray the Democrats to be the champions of immigration and foreigners, while he champions the safety and prosperity of American citizens. If Democrats want to succeed against Trump, they need to come up with persuasive ways of responding to his immigration policies.
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You forgot to get a statement from another Democratic candidate. Here it is:
WASHINGTON, March 6 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released the following statement Monday after President Donald Trump signed a new executive order blocking immigration from six majority-Muslim countries and suspending admittance of all refugees:
"Let’s call it what it is. This ban is a racist and anti-Islamic attempt to divide us up. A president who respected our traditions of religious freedom would not have resorted to hateful, anti-Islamic rhetoric to justify a ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries. Even the Department of Homeland Security has said that citizenship is not a factor in terrorist threats. This isn’t about keeping America safe. A president responsible for keeping our citizens safe would not hand over ideological ammunition to terrorists seeking new recruits to kill Americans."
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@Bunk McNulty You can put a tuxedo on a goat, but it's still a goat.
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