The Nigerian Diaspora Movement
(NDM) in the U.S. says President Donald Trump’s new immigration policy will,
over time, reduce the number of Nigerians in strategic professional positions
in that country.
Chairman of the movement, Prof.
Apollos Nwauwa, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN).
A policy alert released on
Wednesday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services disclosed the Trump
administration’s plan to make it more difficult for the children of some U.S. service
members and U.S. government employees living abroad to automatically become
U.S. citizens.
The rule appears to primarily
affect the children of naturalised U.S. citizens serving in the armed forces,
who have not lived in the U.S. for a required period of time, a relatively
small number — estimated to be approximately 100 annually, according to a
Defense Department official.
U.S. citizenship can be acquired
in a few ways, including being born in the country.
Children born abroad can acquire
citizenship through their U.S. citizen parents either at birth or before the
age of 18.
While the latest policy guidance
does not make anyone ineligible for citizenship, it appears to narrow how
children abroad can gain citizenship.
Trump has occasionally voiced his
support for ending birthright citizenship and said last week that he was
“seriously” considering ending it, though it is unclear how he would have the
legal authority to do so.
This is because an Executive
Order alone is not enough to make him have his way. Only a constitutional
amendment can make the president have his way where ending birthright
citizenship is concerned.
Acting USCIS Director Ken
Cuccinelli said on Twitter that the new policy “does NOT impact birthright
citizenship.”
Still, the policy, which takes
effect on Oct. 29, sparked confusion among military and diplomatic groups who
immediately denounced the alert.
The groups became concerned that
the rule change would place hurdles before children of federal employees and
military workers serving abroad.
According to Nwauwa, Nigerians in
the U.S. are of significant value to the U.S, given that they constitute a
large part of the human resource base of that country.
”There is hardly any American
agency or parastatal that has no Nigerian working in its upper echelons.
“Since only citizens are
permitted to work in sensitive and lucrative positions, over time, this policy
will reduce the number of Nigerians in strategic professional positions in the
U.S., ” he said.
He further said that the policy
of restrictive citizenship would reduce the huge amount of remittances made by
Nigerians living in the U.S. to the country’s revenue sources.
“Unquestionably, the long-term
goal of the Trump administration is to reduce to the barest minimum the number
of immigrants in his country.
“The policy will only briefly
affect Nigerians visiting the U.S. to have babies.
”It will also have implications
for American servicemen, business people, members of the diplomatic corps as
well as others, who live outside the U.S. with their families.
“Nigerians who also have U.S.
citizenship will be affected the most because their children born in their
country of birth after they had become U.S. citizens by naturalisation, will
not be granted citizenship.
“Trump’s administration is
determined to change the U.S. immigration landscape once and for all,” he said.
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