By Bilesanmi Abayomi
Public commentator James Eze has urged the United States to promote and support good governance in developing countries as a way of addressing migration pressures, arguing that improving conditions in people’s home countries would reduce the desire to migrate.
Eze made the call while responding to follow-up questions from Kosofe Post on US immigration policies and the conduct of officers of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which he described as “un-American.”
Asked how US immigration enforcement could be reformed to better reflect American values, Eze argued that migration should also be examined through the lens of foreign policy and governance failures in migrants’ home countries.
“Why do people gravitate to America and abandon their home countries? This is due to the policy of ‘American interest first,’” he said.
“The US should always project and support good governance to encourage citizens to stay in their home country. The type of government US citizens cannot tolerate shouldn’t be imposed on other countries. Why support a regime that deteriorates the quality of life of its people? When a country is allowed to choose the best people to run their country, it will be a win-win for the US.”
Eze also challenged the portrayal of immigrants solely as a burden, arguing that they play an important role in supporting the US labour supply.
He condemned immigration enforcement practices that separate families and deport people to countries with which they may have little or no connection.
“ICE cannot pluck people from the street and send them to a country they have never been in their life,” he said. “Even American citizens suffer the same fate. Families are torn apart, thereby creating more societal problems than undocumented immigrants. There is no doubt that supporting good governance throughout the world will ease the pressure of illegal migration to the US.”
Detention of Nigerian-born Professor Raises Concerns
Eze’s comments come amid concerns over the detention of Dr Ann Lawani, a 39-year-old nursing professor in California who was reportedly arrested by ICE agents at her home in Lodi on September 16.
Dr. An Lawani
According to California State Senator Jerry McNerney, ICE agents shackled Lawani’s ankles, waist and hands during the arrest.
After making one phone call to her family from a holding facility in Stockton, Lawani reportedly disappeared from ICE’s public online detainee locator for three days.
Her attorney, Natalia Vieira Santana, said ICE transferred her through Bakersfield and El Paso before moving her to a detention centre in Louisiana, where she was eventually able to contact her relatives.
The incident followed a change in ICE’s detainee-location disclosure policy, which reportedly took effect on September 15. Under the policy, the agency stopped publishing the locations of detainees with prior deportation orders in its public database.
Immigration attorneys filed a lawsuit in late October, arguing that the policy unlawfully prevents families and legal representatives from locating detained individuals.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Lawani was detained because of a 2013 removal order. However, her legal team said an immigration judge ruled on the same day that she could not be deported to Nigeria because she was “more likely than not” to face persecution there.
Her lawyers also said she had continued to renew her work permit legally, with her current authorisation valid until 2029.
US Representative Josh Harder reportedly said ICE had attempted to deport Lawani to an undisclosed third country without providing the necessary documentation to her attorney.
Detention Disrupts Work and Family Life
Lawani’s detention, which reportedly began three weeks into the academic semester, has disrupted her work and family responsibilities.
She oversees 230 nursing students at the University of San Francisco and also works as a nurse at John Muir Health. She reportedly served on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic and is the primary caregiver for her 83-year-old father, who is currently hospitalised.
Describing the impact of her detention on the nursing school, its dean, Eileen Fry-Bowers, said: “It feels like a bomb was dropped into our school.”
Her brother, Samuel Lawani, also condemned the detention as “simply evil and consequential.”
Lawani has reportedly been held in Louisiana for eight weeks while her lawyers await a federal judge’s decision on a petition seeking her release.
The case has renewed questions about immigration detention procedures, access to detainee information, due process and the treatment of individuals facing deportation proceedings.
Eze’s intervention adds to the debate over whether the US should address migration pressures not only through domestic enforcement but also by supporting governance, stability and improved living conditions in countries from which people migrate.