Nigeria’s 1986 Nobel Prize Winner: ‘I Will Cut My U.S. Green Card If Trumps Wins’

AFP

AFP

Nigeria’s Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka says he will cut up his green card if Donald Trump emerges as winner of the U.S. presidential election.

The green card is a permanent residence permit for the U.S. — prized by many African immigrants to the U.S.

His comments emerged in the video of a conversation with students at Oxford University in the UK. The famous author appears to be taking a swipe at Trump over his radical stance on immigration.

Soyinka is one of Africa’s most celebrated literary figures. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986 — becoming the first African to be honored in that category.

American voters go to the polls next Tuesday, and latest polls show Trump and his rival Hillary Clinton are neck and neck. Trump is famous for his promise to build a wall to keep Mexican immigrants out of the U.S. if he makes it to the White House.

Under his hard-line proposals, every illegal immigrant currently in the U.S. would be subject to deportation if he wins the election. He says there will be no pathway to citizenship or even legal status for them unless they leave the country and get in line with everyone else who wants to enter the U.S., subject to the normal immigration procedures.

Soyinka said he feared the Republican candidate would ask all green-card holders to reapply to come back into the U.S.

“Well, I’m not waiting for that,” the Nigerian author told his student audience. “The moment they announce his [Trump’s] victory, I will cut my green card myself and start packing up,” he added.

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