{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-clarke-veasey-lead-23-members-congress-calling-temporary-protected", "Norton, Clarke, Veasey Lead 23 Members of Congress Calling for Temporary Protected Status for Nigeria", "2023-05-09", "2023", "2023-05", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Holmes Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", "norton", "https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 After more than 100 deaths due to recent election-related violence in Nigeria, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX) led 23 members of Congress in urging Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to designate the country for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS designation would allow Nigerian nationals in the U.S. to temporarily remain instead of returning to Nigeria amid the country\u2019s ongoing armed conflict.\n\n\u201cThe scale and geographic extent of insecurity in Nigeria is unprecedented in the country\u2019s history,\u201d the members wrote. \u201cNigeria\u2019s ongoing armed conflict has had a dramatic human cost. Estimates suggest the presence of between 3.1 million and 3.3 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria.\u201d\n\nThe full letter follows.\n\nMay 9, 2023\n\nThe Honorable Alejandro N. Mayorkas\n\nSecretary\n\nU.S. Department of Homeland Security\n\n301 7th Street SW\n\nWashington, D.C. 20528\n\nDear Secretary Mayorkas:\n\nWe write to request that you protect Nigerian nationals currently in the United States by designating Nigeria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS).\n\nFederal law provides authority to designate TPS in the case of ongoing armed conflict or extraordinary and temporary conditions. Specifically, the Immigration and Nationality Act provides discretionary authority to grant TPS when \u201cthere is an ongoing armed conflict within the state and, due to such conflict, requiring the return of aliens who are nationals of that state to that state (or to the part of the state) would pose a serious threat to their personal safety,\u201d or when \u201cthere exist extraordinary and temporary conditions in the foreign state that prevent aliens who are nationals of the state from returning to the state in safety.\u201d Nigeria meets both the armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions frameworks for TPS designation.\n\nAt present, Nigeria is facing an extraordinary level of insecurity in terms of the extent and protractedness of armed conflict. Ongoing armed conflict in Nigeria includes violent extremist insurgency in the northeast region by the terrorist groups Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa, intense gang fighting, violence between farmers and herders and an emergent separatist insurgency movement known as the Indigenous People of Biafra in the southeast region. This armed conflict has recently escalated. Kidnapping and criminality have increased, often fueled by religious and intercommunal polarization. According to the Centre for Democracy and Development, 109 people were killed amid recent election-related violence in February and March of this year.\n\nThe scale and geographic extent of insecurity in Nigeria is unprecedented in the country\u2019s history. Military operations are underway against insurgencies nationwide, and military forces have been deployed in each of Nigeria\u2019s 36 states to support internal security.\n\nNigeria\u2019s ongoing armed conflict has had a dramatic human cost. Estimates suggest the presence of between 3.1 million and 3.3 million internally displaced persons in Nigeria. This does not include an additional 2.1 million \u201creturnees,\u201d formerly displaced people who have returned to their home areas but may not be fully resettled. An additional 336,900 individuals are refugees\u2014that is, displaced outside of Nigeria (mostly in neighboring Niger and Chad). Of particular concern, thousands of children in Nigeria have recently been kidnapped, forcibly recruited, injured or killed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups.\n\nThe White House has acknowledged the armed conflict and humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, and the State Department has urged travelers to reconsider travel to Nigeria due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest and kidnapping. We urge you to designate Nigeria for Temporary Protected Status.\n\nThank you for your consideration.\n\nSincerely,\n\nEleanor Holmes Norton\n\nYvette D. Clarke\n\nMarc A. Veasey\n\nEarl Blumenauer\n\nJamaal Bowman, Ed.D.\n\nCori Bush\n\nAndr\u00e9 Carson\n\nGreg Casar\n\nJudy Chu\n\nDwight Evans\n\nValerie P. Foushee\n\nMaxwell Alejandro Frost\n\nSylvia R. Garcia\n\nJes\u00fas G. \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda\n\nGlenn Ivey\n\nHenry C. \u201cHank\u201d Johnson, Jr.\n\nBarbara Lee\n\nJames P. McGovern\n\nGrace Meng\n\nDelia C. Ramirez\n\nC. A. Dutch Ruppersberger\n\nBonnie Watson Coleman\n\nFrederica S. Wilson\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:55:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norton.house.gov/media/press-releases/norton-clarke-veasey-lead-23-members-congress-calling-temporary-protected"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8863229304552078, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}