On October 13, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a Justice Department appeal regarding whether Nigerian citizen Izuchukwu Ozurumba was lawfully denied U.S. asylum under the Immigration and Nationality Act's material-support bar for cooking meals while held captive by a separatist group called the Unknown Gunmen. After escaping armed guards in 2022 and entering the U.S. in July 2023, Ozurumba was deported in April 2025 before the 4th Circuit ruled in September 2025 that forced labor did not constitute material support. A Supreme Court ruling is expected by June 2027.
Supreme Court appeal
- ▪The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on October 13, 2026 to hear a U.S. Justice Department appeal seeking to deny asylum to Nigerian citizen Izuchukwu Ozurumba
- ▪The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments and issue a ruling in the asylum case of Izuchukwu Ozurumba by June
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department stated in its Supreme Court appeal that allowing the lower court decision from the 4th Circuit favoring Izuchukwu Ozurumba to stand would substantially increase the government's burden in excluding non-citizens with links to terrorism
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department argued to the Supreme Court that providing meals to members of a terrorist organization is no less a material form of support than providing gasoline for its vehicles
Captivity with the Unknown Gunmen
- ▪In 2022, Nigerian citizen Izuchukwu Ozurumba accepted a cooking job at a remote camp outside Lagos that he subsequently learned was operated by a separatist group called the Unknown Gunmen
- ▪Izuchukwu Ozurumba was held at a remote camp outside Lagos for six months under armed guard and forced to cook for leaders of the Unknown Gunmen, a Nigerian separatist group, working without pay for three months
- ▪While at a remote camp outside Lagos run by the Unknown Gunmen, Izuchukwu Ozurumba observed that the movements of camp members coincided with news reports of murder and arson
Escape and flight to the US
- ▪Izuchukwu Ozurumba escaped the Unknown Gunmen's camp during an outing for supplies and returned to Lagos, where members of the Unknown Gunmen harassed and beat him with sticks and knives following a church service
- ▪After receiving death threats in Nigeria and Venezuela, Izuchukwu Ozurumba traveled to the U.S. southern border and surrendered to immigration authorities in July 2023
Immigration court and BIA rulings
- ▪An immigration judge ordered Izuchukwu Ozurumba deported in March 2024 after finding him removable for entering without valid documents and disqualified under the federal material-support bar
- ▪The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the deportation order of Izuchukwu Ozurumba in September 2024, concluding that the material-support statute contains no implied duress exemption
- ▪An immigration judge concluded that cooking three meals a day for the Unknown Gunmen, a Nigerian separatist group, satisfied basic human needs and constituted material support regardless of whether Izuchukwu Ozurumba acted under duress
Fourth Circuit decision
- ▪In September 2025, a divided panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Izuchukwu Ozurumba, holding forced captive labor cooking provided nothing the Unknown Gunmen, a separatist group, could divert to carry out terrorist activities
- ▪The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Izuchukwu Ozurumba's removal order but declined to require the U.S. government to facilitate his return to the United States for ongoing proceedings
Debatable claims
- ▪Preparing food for a violent group constitutes material support under federal immigration law
- ▪Federal immigration law should include a duress exception to the material-support bar
- ▪The federal government is responsible for facilitating the return of wrongfully deported asylum seekers
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