The State Department will start restricting the issuance of visas to those who violate religious freedoms in Nigeria and elsewhere, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday.
The change in policy comes in response to the pattern of Islamist terrorist groups persecuting Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
“The United States is taking decisive action in response to the mass killings and violence against Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other violent actors in Nigeria and beyond,” Rubio said in a statement.
The new policy falls under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the U.S. to deny visas to individuals who may pose a threat to the nation’s foreign policy interests.
A State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that the visa restriction policy is similar to an existing visa ineligibility process outlined in Section 212(a)(2)(G) of the INA, which only applies to foreign government officials accused of “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” The new policy takes visa ineligibility one step further by targeting non-government individuals.
The action is applicable to those “who have directed, authorized, significantly supported, participated in, or carried out violations of religious freedom” and possibly immediate family members if deemed appropriate, Rubio said.
The secretary emphasized that any foreign government or individual accused of religious freedom violations will be affected by the foreign policy move.
President Donald Trump previously designated Nigeria a country of particular concern due to the egregious violations of religious freedom. The Trump administration later made its stance on the issue clearer when Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, labeled the massacre of thousands of Christians in Nigeria a “genocide” last month.
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Nigeria’s government has dismissed the Trump administration’s claims of a Christian genocide in the West African nation as a “hoax.”
Reiterating Trump’s warning to Nigeria, Rubio said, “As President Trump made clear, the ‘United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening in Nigeria, and numerous other countries.'”
