The Nigerian Diaspora Movement in the United States has said that President Donald Trump’s new immigration policy will over time reduce the number of Nigerians in strategic professional positions in the North American country.
Chairman of the movement, Prof Apollos Nwauwa, made the disclosure on Sunday.
A policy alert released on Wednesday by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, revealed Trump administration’s plan to make it more difficult for the children of some American service members and government employees living abroad to automatically become US citizens.
The rule appears to primarily affect the children of naturalised American citizens serving in the armed forces, who have not lived in the US for a required period of time.
It does not impact anyone born in the US.
According to Nwauwa, Nigerians in the US are of significant value to the country given that they constitute a large part of the human resource base of America.
He said, “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 US.
“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 US 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 US with their families.
“Nigerians who also have US citizenship will be affected the most because their children born in their country of birth after they had become American citizens by naturalisation will not be granted citizenship.
“Trump’s administration is determined to change the US immigration landscape once and for all.”