Former Nigerian Senator Shehu Sani has publicly endorsed the decision by former U.S. President Donald Trump to halt immigration from developing nations, including Nigeria. Sani characterized the controversial move as a “welcome development.”
On Thanksgiving Day, the 27th of November, 2025, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to announce his plan to “permanently pause” immigration from all countries categorized as “Third World.” Nigeria is among the over 60 nations across Africa, Asia, and the Pacific that fall under this designation based on human capital rankings, according to data from the World Population Review.
The proposed immigration freeze, Trump stated, is intended to give the U.S. immigration system time to “recover.” He claimed the pause would help reverse “millions of Joe Biden illegal admissions.” Trump also promised to pursue the removal of any non-citizen residing in the U.S. who is deemed not to be a “net asset” or who is “incapable of loving” the country.
On the 28th of November, 2025, Shehu Sani, a former federal lawmaker, utilized the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to voice his strong support for the policy, arguing that citizens should focus on developing their home countries instead of emigrating.
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Quoting his post on X: “President Trump’s decision to stop Nigerians and citizens of other third World countries from relocating to the US is a welcome development. The immigrants should stay back in their country and solve their problems or learn to live with it. Better to stay back than to be chased, hunted and deported by ICE.”
In a separate but related action, the Director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on Thursday an order to review all green cards previously granted to individuals from countries deemed “of concern,” aligning with the broader implications of Trump’s stated directive.