Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has revealed that he had long foreseen Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Actions including the cancellation of green cards.
Gatekeepers News reports that speaking in an interview with BBC, Soyinka accused Trump of fostering hatred, discrimination, and violence during his administration.
He said, “I said, ‘When that man comes to power, the first thing he will do is cancel even the green cards’.”
“This is a petty-minded dictator; you see how he deals with his objects of hate. We saw that dark side of the American side.”
“There were more killings — extrajudicial killings — by the police of black people, of minorities, during the campaign, and on account of hate rhetoric, the hate rhetoric of this individual.”
The 91-year-old playwright recounted that after Trump won the 2016 election, he destroyed his green card in protest, refusing to wait for an inevitable forced cancellation.
He explained, “I said I’m not going to wait to be told to come for a reinterview or simply told, ‘Get out! The green card is cancelled!’ That’s all.”
“People failed to understand. Even though I said it, people failed to accept it. I said I don’t like to be kicked out; I like to kick myself out, it’s more dignified.”
Soyinka added that after Trump’s re-election in November 2024, he received a letter from U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) notifying him of an upcoming audit of his tax records spanning the previous five years.
The writer revealed that he immediately went to the U.S. embassy to clarify the matter, explaining that he wanted to settle any tax concerns directly and avoid being branded a tax evader.
He said, “My Green Card is no longer usable. I don’t want to be advertised as a tax dodger owing the United States money and being chased all over the world with letters and police, and I said I needed to go in and see the audit, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Recall that the US government revoked Soyinka’s non-immigrant visa following his visa application earlier in October.
