Over 1,700 Cameroonians at risk of deportation from US!.

File photo: ICE arresting undocumented migrant

Some 1,736 Cameroonians living in the United States of America, USA, are at risk of being deported back home. This follows an ongoing mass crackdown of undocumented migrants in the United States of America.

Since taking office on January 20, US President, Donald Trump, who had warned of mass deportation of undocumented migrants, began a nationwide crackdown, with the arrests and deportations of hundreds of people of several nationalities last week. 

The prospect of deportation has created a climate of fear among Cameroonian communities in the US, who worry about being separated from their loved ones. 

Some of the said Cameroonians, we gathered, have lived for decades in the country and are scared of leaving behind everything they have worked for and the life they have built.

According to the US Immigration and Custom Enforcement, ICE, 1,736 Cameroonians could be expelled from the US, following Trump's shock and awe deportation executive orders. 

It is however important to mention that the said statistics date back to November 24, 2024. The Guardian Post has not obtained recent data on the number of unauthorised Cameroonian immigrants residing in the United States that could be deported. 

There are chances that the number may have increased between that period and now.  In addition to migrants without status, there are also fears among the Cameroonian community in the US that should Temporary Protected Status, TPS, be rescinded, Cameroonians in the US under the programme would lose their work permits and protection from deportation. 

It is worth noting that the government of the USA granted TPS to an estimated 40,000 Cameroonians fleeing the worsening violence and humanitarian crisis in the country, to seek asylum in the US.

The decision designating Cameroon for the TPS was announced by the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, DHS in April 15, 2022.

The TPS, it should be noted, is given persons living in the US from countries devastated by ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions.

The 18-month protection, Secretary Mayorkas had explained, is only eligible to individuals who were already residing in the US as at the time of the signature of the decision. 

The Biden-led administration in a release, had stated that: “The United States recognises the ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon, and we will provide temporary protection to those in need”.

“Cameroonian nationals currently residing in the U.S who cannot safely return due to the extreme violence perpetrated by government forces and armed separatists, and a rise in attacks led by Boko Haram, will be able to remain and work in the United States until conditions in their home country improve,” the Department of Homeland Security release had further assured the asylum seekers. 

President Donald Trump, it should be recalled, during his first mandate as US president, had sought to wind down the TPS protection programme by deporting some 81 Cameroonian asylum seekers who attempted to cross to the US via Mexico, on October 14, 2020.

 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3354 of Thursday January 30, 2025

 

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