周二，美国最高法院决定受理一起涉及尼日利亚男子的案件。该男子在委内瑞拉生活多年后返回祖国寻求更好的工作机会，2022年被招募至尼日利亚一处偏僻地区的营地担任厨师。后来他才得知该营地由一个名为“未知枪手”的恐怖组织控制。在营地期间，他被迫为该组织头目烹饪食物，且持续了六个月之久，期间未获得任何报酬。
The Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to take up a case involving a Nigerian man who was denied asylum in the U.S. after an immigration judge decided that he had provided “material support” for a known terrorist group by cooking for them despite being held captive at the time. The justices have granted the Justice Department’s request to review an appeals court ruling that found the forced labor was not a disqualifying factor under federal immigration law. Oral arguments are poised for next year, with a ruling expected by the summer. Izuchukwu Ozurumba was recruited in 2022 to work as a cook at a rural Nigeria camp about 12 years after he moved back to the country from Venezuela seeking better employment opportunities. He later learned the camp was run by the “Unknown Gunmen." Ozurumba was held in the camp for six months, where he was forced to cook meals for the group’s leaders, eventually without pay.
由于营地有武装人员把守，他无法离开。后来他在外出采购食品时趁机逃脱，但随即遭到该组织成员的多次威胁与骚扰；法庭记录显示，有一次在拉各斯的教堂礼拜结束后，这些成员还“用棍棒和刀子殴打他”。出于对自身安全的担忧，奥祖伦巴逃回了委内瑞拉。五个月后，他前往美国，并于2023年7月在南部边境向移民当局自首。
He could not leave, as the camp was guarded by armed security. He escaped while on a trip into town to buy groceries and became the target of repeated threats and harassment from group members who on one occasion “beat him with sticks and knives” following a church service in Lagos, according to court records. Fearing for his life, Ozurumba fled to Venezuela. After five months, he traveled to the U.S. and surrendered himself to immigration authorities at the southern border in July 2023.
移民法官认定他因无合法证件入境而可被驱逐出境。奥祖伦巴随后申请了庇护、暂缓驱逐以及《禁止酷刑公约》所规定的保护，理由是担心回到祖国后会遭遇危险。然而，2024年3月，移民法官驳回了他的申请，并下令将其遣返回尼日利亚。法官指出，根据《移民与国籍法》中关于“提供实质性支持”的相关规定，奥祖伦巴不具备获得庇护的资格。
An immigration judge found he was removable from the country for entering without valid documents. Ozurumba filed for asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture, citing fear of returning to his home country. An immigration judge denied Ozurumba relief and ordered in March 2024 that he be deported to Nigeria. The judge said he was not eligible for asylum due to an Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provision known as the material-support bar.
移民上诉委员会于2024年9月维持了该决定，认为该法规未包含隐含的胁迫豁免。第四巡回美国上诉法院的一个分歧小组持不同意见，认为奥鲁祖姆巴的行为本身不足以帮助该组织实现其恐怖主义目标。上诉法院写道：“使用组织购买的食物和物资烹饪餐食可能在最广义上‘维持’了该组织——通过将原始食材转化为他们享用的餐食——但未提供该组织可用于或易于转用以策划或实施其恐怖活动的任何东西。”
The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed that decision in September 2024, concluding the statute did not include an implied duress exemption. A divided panel for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, finding that Oruzumba’s actions were not sufficient on their own to help the group accomplish its terroristic goals. “Cooking meals using food and supplies purchased by the organization may have ‘sustained’ the organization in the broadest possible sense—by converting raw groceries into meals they enjoyed—but provided nothing that the organization could use or readily divert to plan or carry out its terrorist activities,” the appeals court wrote.
上诉法院撤销了驱逐令，并将案件发回下级法院重新审理。但到那时，法院记录显示，奥祖姆巴的律师称他已被遣返回尼日利亚。上诉法院当时拒绝下令联邦政府协助其立即返回美国以进行进一步的移民程序。
The appeals judges vacated the removal order and sent the case back to the lower court to review. But by that time, court records show that Ozurumba’s lawyers said he had already been sent back to Nigeria. The appeals court declined at the time to order the federal government to facilitate his immediate return to the U.S. for further immigration proceedings.