Over 33% of Nigerian immigrant households in US receive public assistance – Trump

Former US President Donald Trump has claimed that more than one-third of Nigerian immigrant households in the United States rely on public benefits.

Trump shared a chart on his Truth Social platform on January 4, 2026, outlining the percentage of immigrant households from various countries that receive some form of public assistance in the US. According to the data, about 33.3 per cent of Nigerian immigrant households were listed as beneficiaries of welfare programmes.

The chart, titled “Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin,” covers immigrants from approximately 114 countries and territories. It includes assistance such as food support, healthcare benefits and other social welfare programmes.

Countries listed with the highest reported rates of welfare usage among immigrant households include Bhutan at 81.4 per cent, Yemen at 75.2 per cent, Somalia at 71.9 per cent, Marshall Islands at 71.4 per cent, Dominican Republic and Afghanistan at 68.1 per cent each, Congo at 66.0 per cent, Guinea at 65.8 per cent, Samoa (1940–1950) at 63.4 per cent, and Cape Verde at 63.1 per cent.

On the other end of the scale, countries with the lowest reported rates include Bermuda at 25.5 per cent, Saudi Arabia at 25.7 per cent, Israel/Palestine at 25.9 per cent, Argentina at 26.2 per cent, South America (unspecified) at 26.7 per cent, Korea at 27.2 per cent, Zambia at 28.0 per cent, Portugal at 28.2 per cent, Kenya at 28.5 per cent, and Kuwait at 29.3 per cent.

The post comes amid renewed Republican debates around immigration, welfare dependency and the economic contributions of immigrants. Trump also highlighted his administration’s expansion of travel bans and stricter immigration policies as part of broader efforts to control who enters the United States and under what conditions.