Huizenga, McCaul lead GOP in requesting report on religiously motivated deaths in Nigeria

U.S. Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) led 20 of their Republican colleagues in calling on the U.S. State Department to provide Congress with a report on how it plans to address the deaths of Nigerian Christians killed by Islamic Jihadists.

“In light of several recent tragedies, it is clear that the Biden administration must make religiously motivated violence a top priority in its engagement with the government of Nigeria,” wrote the lawmakers in a Jan. 12 letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

Rep. Huizenga and Rep. McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, were joined in signing the letter by members including U.S. Reps. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), John Moolenaar (R-MI), and French Hill (R-AR).

The lawmakers urged the Biden administration to reevaluate the United States’ decision against designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act of 2021.

“This failure to designate Nigeria falls short of the needs of the Christian communities throughout Nigeria that are facing constant threats from jihadists,” they wrote. “Throughout northern and central Nigeria, violent assaults on churches and their congregations are reportedly carried out on a near-weekly basis.” 

Rep. Huizenga, Rep. McCaul, and their colleagues requested specific details about why the Biden administration removed Nigeria as a CPC and why recent atrocities have failed to meet the threshold of concern, according to their letter.

They also requested that Blinken include details in the report about how the State Department plans to engage with the Nigerian government to eliminate such atrocities.

“Continuing to ignore the repeated massacring of a particular group of religious and ethnic people only perpetuates the cycle of violence,” wrote the members. “More must be done to combat these heinous acts.”