U.S. President Donald Trump has said that about 33.3 per cent of Nigerian immigrant households in the United States depend on some form of public assistance, according to data he shared on social media.
The statistics were published on Trump’s Truth Social platform on January 4, 2026, in a chart titled “Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin,” which compares welfare usage among immigrant households from about 114 countries and territories.
The chart lists benefits such as food assistance and healthcare support and places Nigeria above several countries with lower reported welfare rates, though below nations such as Bhutan, Yemen, Somalia, and Afghanistan, which recorded some of the highest levels of dependency.
The data release comes amid a broader tightening of U.S. immigration policy under the Trump administration, including expanded travel bans and stricter visa rules.
In late December 2025, the White House extended full and partial entry restrictions to 39 countries effective January 1, 2026, with Nigeria added to the list of countries facing partial restrictions affecting immigrant visas and several non-immigrant categories, including student and exchange visas.
These measures follow earlier changes in July 2025 that sharply reduced the validity and entry allowances of non-immigrant visas for Nigerians, as part of wider enforcement actions that reportedly saw about 85,000 visas revoked in 2025, signalling a tougher stance on both legal and irregular migration.