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The United States fired more than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles into Nigeria on Christmas Day after President Donald Trump accused the West African country of its actions. The government failed to protect persecuted Christians.
U.S. military officials said the attack was coordinated with Nigerian authorities and targeted groups linked to the Islamic State, which Trump accused of “primarily targeting and viciously killing innocent Christians at a level not seen in years, if not centuries.”
But the attack comes amid the Trump administration The number of refugees has dropped significantly Admitted to the United States each year while adding Nigeria to the Travel and immigration are severely restricted in an increasing number of countries.
An analysis by the American Immigration Council shows that over the past decade, Nigerians have received an average of 128,000 immigrant and non-immigrant visas annually, nearly all of which will now face severe restrictions that block most legal routes to the country.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has long been plagued by violence, and analysts and local officials believe Nigerians of many faiths, including Christians and Muslims, are suffering under a network of armed groups in a conflict that the Trump administration has now entered.
The Trump administration’s actions appear to follow months of claims by Republican officials and Trump-aligned Christian evangelical groups that Christians are being targeted. Last month, the president suggested that the United States could “shoot up” its entry into the country, and has since promised more attacks if “the killing of Christians continues.”
The Christmas strikes hit Sokoto state, a Muslim-majority region where the latest violence has been linked to a group called Lakurawa, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. Some analysts have linked the group to the Islamic State, while others believe it is linked to Al Qaeda’s rival al-Qaeda’s al-Qaeda rival, the Islamist Nusrat Muslim League.
Mustapha Alhassan, a Nigerian security analyst, said Trump’s attacks on the region, coupled with the U.S. narrative, were “politically convenient”. Washington Post.
“Nigerians will welcome aid if it reaches precise targets,” he said. “But that doesn’t seem to be what’s happening. What is all this for?”
In October, Trump designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” under the U.S. International Religious Freedom Act.
The largely symbolic label is given to countries that have “seriously violated religious freedom” and instructs countries to “implement targeted responses to violations of religious freedom.”
Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said, “Characterizing Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality and does not take into account the government’s consistent and sincere efforts to guarantee freedom of religion and belief for all Nigerians.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is limiting the number of refugees entering the U.S. each year, and Give most of the limited places to white South Africans.
Refugee admissions will now explicitly prioritize the resettlement of Afrikaners, and the admissions cap has been significantly reduced from 125,000 to 7,500 next year.
Refugee resettlement groups said the move marked a radical break with refugee policies based on humanitarian needs rather than ideology or identity.
The administration’s latest expansion of its travel ban bans people from seven more countries from entering the United States on immigrant and non-immigrant visas, while Nigeria has been added to the list of countries that ban all immigrant visas and all tourist, student and exchange visitor visas.
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of Global Shelter, said earlier this month in response to the expanded travel ban that U.S. officials were “using safety language to justify blanket exclusions that punish entire populations, rather than utilizing personalized, evidence-based screening.”
“Safety is critical, but it requires precision,” Vignarajah added. “A blanket ban will only weaken our system by replacing careful scrutiny with collective punishment.”