Trump's election speech video altered to claim visa ban on Nigerians

Days after Trump won his second term on November 5, 2024, a TikTok video surfaced claiming he had announced a new policy restricting visa approvals for Nigerian professionals.

“Donald Trump just announced that America will no longer give visas to Nigerians,” reads the caption of the video, which has garnered over two million views.

According to the audio, the move will assist “Nigerians to dedicate their skills to the advancement of Nigeria itself”.

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A screenshot of the false TikTok post, taken on November 19, 2024

“I am announcing a temporary policy shift, one that aims to encourage Nigerians, especially those in critical professions, to stay, invest, and work in their homeland,” says a voice that sounds like Trump.

“As part of this policy, the US will limit certain visa approvals for Nigerian professionals, including doctors, nurses, engineers, and others in essential fields.”

The TikTok video was also shared on X, including here, here and here.

‘Japa’ phenomenon

High poverty rates, a struggling economy, and unemployment have forced thousands of educated Nigerians to flee the country -- a trend popularly referred to as “Japa” in the local Yoruba language.

According to the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the number of international migrants from Nigeria in 2020, the latest year for which figures are available, was 1.7 million, up from 990,000 a decade earlier (archived here).

Trump issued immigration restrictions on citizens of six countries in the same year, including Nigeria (archived here).

In 2022, Nigerians constituted the largest group of African immigrants in the US, comprising over 440,000, according to the Migration Policy Institute (archived here).

However, there is no evidence of Trump announcing fresh restrictions to date. The audio in the viral TikTok video has been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

AI-generated audio

A close look at the footage shows a mismatch between Trump’s speech and lip movements, a possible clue for manipulation.

Using InVID-WeVerify, AFP Fact Check traced the original clip to FOX 5 Washington DC’s YouTube channel, where it was published on November 6, 2024, after Trump defeated Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris in the election (archived here).

“FULL SPEECH: Trump projected winner of 2024 presidential election,” reads the video’s caption.

At the 4’38” mark, we identified the segment in the original clip used in the TikTok post. Trump’s head movement, his full body turn to the left, the camera panning to a wide shot of others on stage applauding, and his open arms all match the sequence in the misleading TikTok video.

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Screenshots showing Trump's movements in the original video which match the TikTok video

In his 30-minute speech, Trump did not make any mention of Nigerian visa restrictions but said, “We are going to fix our borders”.

“We’re going to have to seal up those borders... We want people to come back in... but they have to come in legally,” he said.

On November 18, 2024, Trump confirmed that he plans to declare a national emergency on border security and use the US military to carry out a mass deportation of undocumented migrants (archived here).

Immigration was a top issue in the election campaign, and Trump has promised to deport millions and stabilize the border with Mexico after record numbers of migrants crossed illegally during President Joe Biden’s administration.

The US embassy in Nigeria confirmed the video was “fake” but declined to elaborate on Trump’s immigration policies.

“We are not in a position to speak to the policies of any incoming administration before the President-elect takes office,” the US embassy in Nigeria wrote in an email to AFP Fact Check.

“In general, the State Department does not work on the policy priorities or changes of a new administration prior to that administration taking office.”