U.S. President Donald Trump has shared a chart showing welfare participation rates among immigrant households in the United States, claiming that about 33.3 per cent of Nigerian immigrant households receive some form of public assistance.

The chart was posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Sunday as part of renewed Republican messaging around immigration policy, welfare dependency, and the economic impact of immigrants on the U.S. economy.

Titled “Immigrant Welfare Recipient Rates by Country of Origin,” the chart lists immigrants from about 120 countries and territories and indicates the percentage of households receiving public support such as food assistance, healthcare benefits, and other welfare programmes.

According to the data, immigrants from Bhutan recorded the highest welfare participation rate at 81.4 per cent, followed by Yemen at 75.2 per cent, Somalia at 71.9 per cent, the Marshall Islands at 71.4 per cent, and both the Dominican Republic and Afghanistan at 68.1 per cent. Nigeria was listed at 33.3 per cent, placing it around the middle of the chart.

Countries with the lowest reported welfare participation rates among immigrant households included Bermuda, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Korea, and Kenya, with figures ranging between about 25 and 29 per cent.

Trump’s post comes amid ongoing efforts by his administration to link access to public benefits with immigration eligibility. Throughout 2025, the administration repeatedly argued that welfare usage should be a major factor in determining who is allowed to enter or remain in the United States.

The release of the data also coincides with expanded immigration restrictions. In June 2025, the White House announced new presidential proclamations imposing full and partial travel bans on several countries, citing security concerns, weak identity management systems, and limited cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities.

In late December 2025, the administration extended the restrictions into 2026 and expanded the list of affected countries to 39, with the measures taking effect from January 1, 2026. Countries added to the full ban category included Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, while Nigeria and several other African and Caribbean countries were placed under partial restrictions.

The partial bans affect access to immigrant visas as well as certain non-immigrant visas, including student, vocational, and exchange visas.

The chart has since generated debate among immigration advocates and policy analysts, many of whom argue that welfare statistics often fail to clearly distinguish between refugees, recent arrivals, and long-term residents, or between short-term and long-term use of public assistance.