President Donald Trump’s administration has fleeced over $100 million from tens of thousands of Nigerians in fees for immigration applications deemed as dead on arrival due to an active immigrant visa ban that has been extended to pause employment benefits and permanent residency processing for nationals of Nigeria and 38 other countries, stated a report by Cato Institute, a U.S. think-tank.

David J. Bier, director of immigration studies at  Cato Institute, described the continuous acceptance of payments for immigration services not provided as the “largest fraud in the history of the U.S. immigration system”.

He cited data showing that the American government received more than $1 billion in immigration application fees from citizens of banned countries, with Nigerians accounting for about 10 per cent, specifically $101 million.

No fewer than 179,000 Nigerians, including valid visa holders already living in the U.S., have been left job-stranded after a January 1 memo expanded the existing immigrant visa ban on Nigerians to cover employment benefits tied to permanent residency. The restrictions apply to Nigerians and citizens of other banned nations who have been living in the U.S. for decades.

“Effective immediately, this memorandum directs U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) personnel to: place a hold on all pending benefit applications, for aliens listed in Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10998, restricting and limiting the entry of foreign nationals to protect the security of the United States,” the memo seen by Peoples Gazette stated.

Under this policy, not only are Nigerians banned from applying for immigrant visas, but those living in the U.S. on work permits will no longer be allowed to renew their work permits.

Despite the restrictions, Nigerians have not stopped making payments to renew their work authorisation, complete their naturalisation, apply for asylum, or even sponsor their spouses and other dependents to the U.S.

The Department of State has also warned immigration personnel not to divulge any information about the ban to applicants, stating that doing so would amount to pre-adjudication. Instead, applicants were advised to rely on publicly available information.

“Post should not counsel applicants or advise them in advance of the interview that they are subject to the PP,” stated an internal memo on February 20.

Oblivious of this policy, 179,000 Nigerians submitted applications, paid the mandatory fees, which vary depending on their age and specific need, but will wait indefinitely for the U.S. government to take a decision.

Applicants from other affected countries are similarly impacted. Cubans, with over 935,000 pending applications, paid approximately $543 million to USCIS, while Venezuelans, with 239,000 applications, paid about $138 million.

Many Nigerian applicants now remain in limbo, unable to work legally or reunite with family members awaiting travel to the United States.

An Iranian couple, Zahra Shokri Varniab and Ashkan Pourabhari Langroudi, who work as doctors and researchers at Stanford University, initially trapped by the policy, sued the U.S. government last month for withholding decisions on their work permit and green card applications.

The couple won the lawsuit after the judge issued an ultimatum to the Trump administration to adjudicate their applications.

Judge Susan Van Keulen of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted the couple an injunction compelling the USCIS to adjudicate their applications within 30 days.

According to the judge, USCIS’s argument that delaying the immigration decision for the couple was crucial for national security was weak, baseless and unnecessarily cruel.

More than 100 affected aliens have also sued the U.S. government, arguing that an entire nationality should not be blacklisted and denied immigration decisions.

The Cato Institute urged the U.S. Congress to direct the Trump administration to process the paid applications of immigrants and make fair adjudications without weaponising applicants’ birthplaces.

According to the institute, payment entitles immigration applicants to U.S. processing services, and anything short of that is tantamount to fraud.