African migrants say they are unfairly being targeted for detention and deportation because of racial bias.
”The same thoughts that fueled slavery are alive today,” said Dauda Sesay, National Network Director of African Communities Together, at a June 25 press conference. “President Donald Trump is turning back the clock on justice and belonging. He is trying to keep the US as a White majority country.”
Migrants from Africa represent just 1.3% of the overall US population.
The press conference brought together leaders from several African migrant organizations across the US, who highlighted policies by the Trump Administration that would adversely impact African immigrants. Key among them is the new travel ban imposed June 9 on 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East. Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Somalia, and the Sudan are among the countries to have been hit by the travel ban. Countries in Africa with heightened restrictions include Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The Administration has announced its intent to broaden the ban to 16 more countries.
Visa Overstays
The Trump Administration has used visa overstays as its rationale for choosing countries on which to impose a travel ban, said Diana Konaté, Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Advocacy at African Communities Together. She pointed out that data does not justify the ban. In fiscal year 2023, for example, Chad had just 377 people overstaying their visas, while Spain had more than 20,000, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
However, the US saw just 751 visitors from Chad that year, where visitors from Spain numbered more than 841,000. Overall, the fraction of people who traveled to the US from African countries was a small fraction of visitors from other countries, thus inaccurately inflating the number of overstayers.
Most African migrants are getting picked up by ICE as they head to their immigration hearings, said Konaté.
Overpolicing
The Black community at large is overpoliced. Thus African migrants are more likely to be stopped and arrested and eventually detained for immigration issues, said Sharon Nije, Communication and Strategic Partnership Director for the Louisiana Organization for Refugees and Immigrants. “Casual profiling” is so prevalent in the South, she said.
”This is hatefully anti-immigrant. It is designed to dehumanize us, to tell us we’re not welcome, and we don’t belong. This lives on in our streets, our clinics, and even in our classrooms,” said Nije.
Migrants from Cameroon, Nije’s home country, will lose their Temporary Protected Status this August. She expressed fear for her fellow migrants who face deportation back to Cameroon. “Home is no longer home. It is dangerous. We could be killed,” she said.
Fear and Vulnerability
Konaté said little investigation was conducted before determining a country’s ineligibility for TPS.
“Conflicts are displacing millions of people, but the US has closed its doors,” said Imam Teslim Alghali of the Sierra Leone Jammat in Hyattsville, Maryland. “We are immigrants, not criminals,” he said.
Imam Alghali highlighted the case of Gratien Milandou-Wamba in Portland, Maine. The former firefighter from Congo had applied for asylum, received a work permit and was working as a corrections officer at the Cumberland County Jail. ICE agents took him into custody even as he wore his work uniform. He has now been targeted for deportation, even though he has a pending asylum claim.
”Mass deportation has had far-reaching impacts on African migrants who face families. It has created fear and vulnerability. People are hiding,” said Imam Alghali.
