4th December, 2025
Washington has announced sweeping visa restrictions targeting individuals and groups accused of perpetrating religious violence against Christians in Nigeria.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed the measure on Wednesday, describing it as a decisive response to what he termed mass killings carried out by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other violent actors.
The policy operates under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, empowering the State Department to deny visa issuance to anyone who has directed, authorized, funded, significantly supported, participated in, or executed violations of religious freedom. The restrictions may also extend to immediate family members in applicable cases.
“The United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries,” Rubio stated, emphasizing that the policy applies globally to any government or individual engaged in religious freedom violations.
The announcement followed a congressional briefing on Tuesday where House Republicans examined the escalating religious violence in Nigeria. The session, convened under President Donald Trump’s directive from October 31, included House Appropriations Vice Chairman and National Security Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart, alongside lawmakers from the Appropriations and Foreign Affairs Committees.
Notable participants included Representatives Robert Aderholt, Riley Moore, Brian Mast, and Chris Smith, as well as US Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Vicky Hartzler, Alliance Defending Freedom International’s Sean Nelson, and Dr. Ebenezer Obadare from the Council on Foreign Relations.
Estimates suggest more than 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009, with thousands more reported dead in 2025 alone, primarily at the hands of Boko Haram and Fulani militants.
President Bola Tinubu recently approved Nigeria’s delegation to a new US-Nigeria Joint Working Group, established to implement security agreements from high-level discussions in Washington led by National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
Trump had on October 31, 2025, designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over reported killings of Christians. This marks the second time he has applied this designation to Nigeria, having first done so in December 2020 during his initial presidential term. However, the designation was reversed after President Joe Biden assumed office.
Following the CPC listing, Trump stated on November 3 that he would consider military action to protect Nigerian Christians facing persecution.
On November 20, the US House Subcommittee on Africa held a public hearing to examine Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a CPC, scrutinizing the potential consequences which could include sanctions against Nigerian officials found complicit in religious persecution.
The visa restrictions represent one of Washington’s strongest diplomatic responses to the security crisis affecting religious communities in Africa’s most populous nation.