US supreme court agrees to hear asylum case of Nigerian man who ‘cooked for unknown gunmen’

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a federal government appeal over whether a Nigerian man allegedly forced to cook for an armed group should be barred from asylum for providing material support to terrorism.

According to Reuters, the court agreed on Tuesday, October 13, to review a ruling in favour of Izuchukwu Ozurumba, whose lawyers say he was held against his will and compelled to work without pay for a group known as the Unknown Gunmen.

Court documents state that Ozurumba travelled to a remote camp outside Lagos in 2022 after learning of a job opportunity. He began working as a cook before discovering that the camp was operated by the group, which was believed to have separatist links. His lawyers said he became suspicious after noticing that some camp members’ movements coincided with reports of fatal attacks and property destruction.

Ozurumba allegedly tried to leave but was prevented from doing so. After six months, he escaped during a trip to purchase supplies and returned to Lagos. His lawyers said he subsequently experienced physical attacks and threats to his life, prompting him to flee to Venezuela, where the threats allegedly continued.

He entered the United States through its southern border without authorisation in July 2023 and applied for asylum and other protections against deportation. An immigration judge, during former President Joe Biden’s administration, ruled that the Unknown Gunmen constituted a terrorist organisation and that Ozurumba’s cooking amounted to material support.

The judge concluded that preparing meals helped the group pursue its objectives by meeting members’ “basic human needs”. The judge also held that Ozurumba’s claim of forced labour did not exempt him from the restriction. His applications were denied, and he was deported to Nigeria in 2025 while his appeal remained pending.

In September 2025, a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the immigration judge’s interpretation. The majority found that Ozurumba was a captive labourer whose cooking “provided nothing that the organisation could use or readily divert to plan or carry out its terrorist activities”.

The appellate court ordered his asylum case to be reconsidered but declined to direct US authorities to return him to the country during the proceedings. The Trump administration challenged that decision before the Supreme Court, arguing that preparing food for members of a terrorist organisation qualified as material support under immigration law.

“Providing meals to a terrorist organization’s members is no less a material form of support than providing gasoline for its vehicles,” the Justice Department argued. It also warned that the appellate ruling would “substantially increase the burden on the government in excluding aliens with links to terrorism”.

Aimee Mayer-Salins, a lawyer with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, which represents Ozurumba, criticised the government’s interpretation. “At stake in this case is whether the government can use an overly broad reading of the law to shut the door on people seeking asylum,” she said.

She maintained that the appeals court “correctly recognized that asylum should not be denied to immigrants who provided no meaningful support to a terrorist group”. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments and issue a ruling by the end of June 2027.