About 33% of Nigerian immigrant households receive US benefits – Trump
US President Donald Trump has said that about one-third of Nigerian immigrant households in the United States rely on public assistance, citing figures shared amid ongoing debates on immigration and welfare dependency.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump published a chart showing welfare recipient rates among immigrant households by country of origin. The data indicated that 33.3% of Nigerian immigrant households receive some form of public support in the US.
The chart, titled Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin, covers about 114 countries and territories and outlines the proportion of immigrant households accessing benefits such as food assistance, healthcare support and other social programmes.
Countries with the highest reported welfare dependency among immigrant households include Bhutan at 81.4%, Yemen at 75.2%, Somalia at 71.9%, the Marshall Islands at 71.4%, the Dominican Republic and Afghanistan at 68.1% each, Congo at 66.0%, Guinea at 65.8%, Samoa at 63.4% and Cape Verde at 63.1%.
By contrast, countries with the lowest reported welfare usage include Bermuda at 25.5%, Saudi Arabia at 25.7%, Israel/Palestine at 25.9%, Argentina at 26.2%, Korea at 27.2%, Zambia at 28.0%, Portugal at 28.2%, Kenya at 28.5% and Kuwait at 29.3%.
The release of the welfare figures comes as the Trump administration continues to expand immigration restrictions. In June 2025, a presidential proclamation imposed full and partial travel bans on nationals of several countries, citing security concerns, weak identity documentation systems and insufficient cooperation with US immigration authorities.
Nigeria was included among countries facing partial restrictions, alongside Angola, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. These measures affect immigrant visas and several non-immigrant categories, including student and exchange visas.
In July 2025, the US also revised its visa policy for Nigerians, limiting most non-immigrant visas to single-entry permits valid for three months, replacing the previous system that allowed multiple-entry visas of up to five years. The administration said the changes are part of broader efforts to strengthen vetting and enforcement, with reports showing about 85,000 visas revoked in 2025.
