The United States has imposed fresh visa restrictions on Nigerians linked to the escalating wave of attacks against Christians. The move, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, is seen as a direct response to the growing violence against religious minorities. Rubio framed the restrictions as a rebuttal to “mass killings and violence against Christians by radical Islamic terrorists, Fulani ethnic militias, and other violent actors in Nigeria and beyond.”
This comes shortly after Nigeria was designated as a “Country of Particular Concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act, a designation that highlights severe violations of religious freedom. The new policy, tucked into Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, bars visas for individuals who “knowingly direct, authorize, fund, support, or carry out violations of religious freedom,” with some provisions extending to immediate family members as well.
The announcement followed a tense briefing on December 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C., where U.S. lawmakers from the House Appropriations and Foreign Affairs Committees convened with religious freedom advocates. The meeting focused on Nigeria’s deepening crisis, highlighting the November 22 abduction of 303 students and 12 teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State’s Papiri community.
Experts, including ADF International’s Sean Nelson and Vicky Hartzler, Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, painted a grim picture: more than 7,000 Christians killed for their faith in 2025 alone—roughly 35 deaths a day. The death toll for Christians since Boko Haram’s violent rampage in 2009 now exceeds 50,000.
This was not the first time Congress addressed the matter. On November 20, 2025, the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee held a hearing on the “systematic and accelerating violence” against Christians, particularly in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, where nearly 9,500 people—mostly Christian—have lost their lives between May 2023 and May 2025. The violence has displaced half a million more.
Rep. Chris Smith’s resolution, H.Res.866, condemned the Nigerian government’s “complicity” in the bloodshed, calling out Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Fulani militants. The resolution also criticized Abuja for its denial of religious targeting, despite the presence of a death-penalty blasphemy law in 12 northern states.
The U.S. government has spotlighted the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and its affiliate, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, as key players in the violence. Smith has pushed for these groups to be labeled as “Entities of Particular Concern,” a designation reserved for groups like the Taliban. MACBAN responded by requesting Congress remove the recommendation, arguing that it unfairly lumps legitimate herders with rogue militias.
The conflict in Nigeria, which is split nearly evenly between 110 million Christians and Muslims, has created a volatile mix of faith-based violence, land disputes, and cattle rustling. Christian farmers in the north-central belt are particularly vulnerable.
Since Boko Haram’s 2014 kidnapping of 276 girls in Chibok, over 19,000 churches have been destroyed. The recent kidnapping of 25 girls from Kebbi State’s Maga school on November 17, 2025, shows that the terror persists.
President Bola Tinubu, however, has pushed back against accusations of religious persecution, maintaining that the violence is part of a broader insecurity problem his government is addressing. But with the U.S. now wielding the visa restriction as a tool—joining the ranks of nations like Iran, Russia, and North Korea the pressure is mounting on Nigeria to make real changes.
