The White Home claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over accepting flights of deported migrants from america on Jan. 26, hours after President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on imports and different sanctions on the longtime U.S. accomplice.
Lengthy shut companions in anti-narcotics efforts, the U.S. and Colombia clashed on Jan. 26 over the deportation of migrants and imposed tariffs on one another’s items in a present of what different nations may face in the event that they intervene within the Trump administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigration. The White Home held up the episode as a warning to different nations who may search to impede his plans.
Earlier, the U.S. president had ordered visa restrictions, 25% tariffs on all Colombian incoming items, which might be raised to 50% in a single week, and different retaliatory measures sparked by President Gustavo Petro’s choice to reject two Colombia-bound U.S. navy plane carrying migrants after Mr. Petro accused Mr. Trump of not treating immigrants with dignity throughout deportation. Mr. Petro additionally introduced a retaliatory 25% enhance in Colombian tariffs on U.S. items.
Mr. Trump mentioned the measures have been essential as a result of Mr. Petro’s choice “jeopardized” nationwide safety within the U.S. by blocking the deportation flights.
“These measures are only the start,” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media platform Reality Social. “We is not going to enable the Colombian Authorities to violate its authorized obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they compelled into america.”
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a Jan. 26 assertion that the “Authorities of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s phrases, together with the unrestricted acceptance of all unlawful aliens from Colombia returned from america, together with on U.S. navy plane, with out limitation or delay.”
Ms. Leavitt mentioned the tariff orders shall be “held in reserve, and never signed.” Nevertheless, Ms. Leavitt mentioned that Mr. Trump would preserve visa restrictions on Colombian officers and improve customs inspections of products from the nation “till the primary planeload of Colombian deportees is efficiently returned.”
The Colombian authorities late Jan. 26 mentioned it thought-about as “overcome” the episode with the Trump administration and Mr. Petro reposted the assertion from the White Home on the social platform X.
“We now have overcome the deadlock with america authorities,” mentioned Colombian International Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo. “We are going to proceed to obtain Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them first rate situations as residents topic to rights.”
Mr. Murillo added that the South American nation’s presidential plane is accessible to facilitate the return of migrants who have been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes.
Earlier Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced he was authorizing the visa restrictions on Colombian authorities officers and their households “who have been accountable for the interference of U.S. repatriation flight operations.” They have been being imposed on prime of the State Division’s transfer to droop the processing of visas on the U.S. Embassy in Colombia’s capital, Bogota.
Mr. Petro had mentioned earlier that his authorities wouldn’t settle for flights carrying migrants deported from the U.S. till the Trump administration creates a protocol that treats them with “dignity.” Mr. Petro made the announcement in two X posts, certainly one of which included a information video of migrants reportedly deported to Brazil strolling on a tarmac with restraints on their fingers and toes.
“A migrant just isn’t a felony and have to be handled with the dignity {that a} human being deserves,” Mr. Petro mentioned. “That’s the reason I returned the U.S. navy planes that have been carrying Colombian migrants…. In civilian planes, with out being handled like criminals, we’ll obtain our fellow residents.”
After Mr. Trump’s earlier tariff menace, Mr. Petro mentioned in a submit on X that he had ordered the “international commerce minister to boost import tariffs from the U.S. by 25%.”
Colombia has historically been the U.S.’s prime ally in Latin America. However their relationship has strained since Mr. Petro, a former guerrilla, turned Colombia’s first leftist president in 2022 and sought distance from the U.S.
Colombia accepted 475 deportation flights from the U.S. from 2020 to 2024, fifth behind Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador, in accordance with Witness on the Border, an advocacy group that tracks flight knowledge. It accepted 124 deportation flights in 2024.
Colombia can be among the many nations that started accepting U.S.-funded deportation flights from Panama final yr.
The U.S. authorities didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Related Press concerning plane and protocols utilized in deportations to Colombia.
“It is a clear message we’re sending that nations have an obligation to just accept repatriation flights,” a senior administration official informed AP. The official spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate the problem publicly.
Mr. Rubio in a press release mentioned Mr. Petro “canceled his authorization” for the flights when the plane have been within the air.
Colombians emerged lately as a serious presence on the U.S. border with Mexico, aided partly by a visa regime that permits them to simply fly to Mexico and keep away from trekking by way of the treacherous Darien Hole. They ranked fourth with 127,604 arrests for unlawful crossings throughout a 12-month interval by way of September, behind Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Venezuelans.
Mexico hasn’t imposed visa restrictions on Colombians as they’ve on Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans, and Peruvians.
Mr. Petro’s authorities later introduced in a press release that the South American nation’s presidential plane had been made out there to facilitate the return of migrants who have been to reach hours earlier on the U.S. navy airplanes and assure them “dignified situations.”
As a part of a flurry of actions to make good on Mr. Trump’s marketing campaign guarantees to crack down on unlawful immigration, his authorities is utilizing active-duty navy to assist safe the border and perform deportations.
Two U.S. Air Power C-17 cargo planes carrying migrants faraway from the U.S. touched down early Friday in Guatemala. That very same day, Honduras obtained two deportation flights carrying a complete of 193 folks.
Colombia is the U.S.’s fourth-largest abroad provider of crude oil, transport about 209,000 barrels of oil per day final yr, though booming home manufacturing has decreased the U.S.’ dependence on international oil. The South American nation can be the U.S.’s largest provider of fresh-cut flowers.
This story was reported by The Related Press. AP writers Jill Colvin, Joshua Goodman, and Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.
