The persecution of African immigrants

The persecution of African immigrants and asylum seekers will not in any way benefit the working class. In Europe and the United States, imprisoning asylum seekers should be denounced in the strongest terms. Mass deportations must end.

Never one for subtlety, Donald Trump declared that he did not want Somali immigrants in the United States and demanded that they “should go back to where they came from.” The president directed his immigrant hunters (ICE) to Minnesota with Somali immigrants as their prey. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are home to 80,000 Somalis; the majority are citizens. Somalis were granted protected status over 30 years ago due to the ongoing violence in their home country. Trump wants to end Temporary Protection Status for Somalis, which would affect a few hundred people across the United States.

The administration is using every pretext to amplify the propaganda against the immigrant population. Listening to the administration and its spokespersons, all immigrants detained and deported are criminals. African immigrants are facing greater legal obstacles in both the U.S. and Europe despite their presence for decades. For Africans seeking refuge in the U.S. and Europe, gaining asylum is nearly impossible.

 Despite American mythology that glorifies immigrants and their contributions, discrimination and exclusion historically have prevailed in policy. Past policies greatly limited non-European immigration. The change came with the Immigration Act of 1965.

Subsequent legislation addressed refugee crises and attracted skilled workers from African countries—as of 2024, two and a half million from Sub-Saharan Africa. Africans represent 5% of the 50 million immigrants in the United States. Allison Rutland and Jeanne Batalova, writing for the Migration Policy Institute, characterize these immigrants as “generally more likely than the overall foreign-born population to have become U.S. citizens, be active in the labor force, have arrived after 2010, and have higher educational attainment” (“Sub-Saharan African immigrants to the United States,” migrationpolicy.org, Oct. 16, 2025).

However, since Trump’s return to power, the administration has imposed bans on 12 African nations and partial bans on an additional 15. This is based on U.S. assessments that characterize these countries as violent state sponsors of terrorism, or on their refusal to accept their deported nationals. In fact, people from these countries have strong cases for asylum based on these assessments.

More than 120 million people represent the stateless millions. This exceeds the population of most countries. Asylum seekers are not leaving by choice but because of state repression, poverty, famine, natural disasters, and climate change. Yet, a world in which capitalism creates crises also makes criminals of the millions fleeing its consequences.

Britain has altered its immigration policy to imprison the desperate, the impoverished, the victims of rape and torture. Legislation passed last year by the French parliament makes it more difficult for immigrants to obtain benefits or citizenship. This legislation was supported by President Emmanuel Macron and the leader of the major far-right party, Marine Le Pen. The far right increases their influence aided by mainstream political parties. Rather than offer an alternative to racist xenophobic arguments, mainstream politicians cynically propose and implement laws creating hardship for immigrants. At the same time, they make asylum nearly impossible.

 Europe has made pacts with Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, and Libya to deter asylum seekers. Security forces in these countries exhibit a total disregard for human rights. Migrants experience racial profiling, beatings, rape, torture and extortion. In December 2025, nine migrants froze to death when they were left in the mountains on the border between Morocco and Algeria; many others have been abandoned without food and water in the desert. In the past decade over 22,000 have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Many of them leave via northwest Africa (the Maghreb) to the Canary Islands. Others attempt the voyage from Libya.

Ibrahima Bah, a Senegalese migrant, began an odyssey that illustrates the plight of many Africans seeking asylum. Bah originally traveled to Gambia, and eventually to Libya. After surviving a hazardous voyage to Sicily, he travelled through France. In December 2022, smugglers coerced him into helming a boat of migrants across the English Channel. There was a mishap and four people died. Bah was charged with manslaughter.

At trial the judge acknowledged that Bah had experienced forced labor and coercion, and that he was less culpable than the smugglers. Yet he was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison. Despite testifying that the smugglers threatened to kill him, the judge ruled that “the physical pressure he was placed under fell short of duress” (The Guardian, Feb. 23, 2024). It could have been worse. The Nationality and Borders Act of 2022 increased the maximum sentence for “facilitating” entry to life in prison.

In contrast to the rhetoric of governments and right-wing parties in Europe, Luisa von Richthofen writes in DW that the typical African immigrant is “someone waiting at the airport gate with their passport and ticket in hand.” (“African Migration to Europe: A Fact Check,” DW, Nov. 16, 2024). Many of the new arrivals are joining family members. Only 8% of Africans in Europe are refugees.

The persecution of African immigrants and asylum seekers will not in any way benefit the working class. In Europe and the United States, imprisoning asylum seekers should be denounced in the strongest terms. Mass deportations must end.

The working class in Europe and American should come to the defense of immigrants. This would be the case if class consciousness saturated the workers of the U.S. and Europe and was promoted by the trade-union movement. The hypocrisy of the ruling class must be exposed before the workers of the world. When it does, the greatest fear of the capitalists will be realized: a united class-conscious working class not susceptible to their racist propaganda.