Just days after returning to the White House for his second term, US President Donald Trump has initiated one of his most contentious campaign promises—returning illegal immigrants to their native countries. In what is being referred to as the first phase of the deportation process, the Trump administration announced two flights carrying illegal immigrants would be sent to Bogotá.
However, Colombia, a longstanding US ally in the fight against narcotics, announced it would not allow the planes to land. Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated that no American planes would be permitted in Bogotá until the US ceased mistreating illegal immigrants.
Undeterred by this resistance, the White House announced a series of countermeasures, including new tariff slabs, visa restrictions, and heightened scrutiny of goods imported from Colombia. In response, President Petro also unveiled retaliatory measures, imposing a 25% tariff on American goods. The Petro administration accused the US of failing to treat illegal immigrants with dignity.
Despite the initial standoff, the situation de-escalated within a few hours, with the Colombian government agreeing to allow the US planes to land in Bogotá. The White House is now using the Bogotá flights as a precedent to urge other nations to accept repatriation flights.
Colombia described the resolution as "overcoming an impasse." “We will continue to receive Colombians returning as deportees, ensuring they are treated with dignity as citizens entitled to rights,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo after Bogotá announced it would permit the arrival of American military aircraft.
Colombia has been one of the closest allies of the US in the Latin America. However, things changed when Petro came to power. An ex-guerrilla, Petro has been seeking distance from the US ever since he came to power in 2022. He is the first leftist president that Colombia has seen.
Since 2024, Colombia has been accepting deportation flights from Panama funded by the US administration. According to data from the advocacy group Witness at the Border, Bogotá accepted as many as 475 repatriation flights between 2020 and 2024.
President Trump, who came to power on the promise of deporting illegal immigrants, has been very vocal about his stance on the issue. Shortly after the US announced a series of sanctions against Colombian officials and members of the pro-Petro party, Trump took to his social media platform, TruthSocial, to issue a statement.
“These measures are just the beginning. We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations regarding the acceptance and return of the criminals they sent into the United States,” Trump wrote in his post after Colombia blocked the repatriation flights.
Not mincing words, Colombian President Petro dared his American counterpart to carry out a coup. "You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance, like they did with (former Chilean President Salvador) Allende. But I will die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don't want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia are lovers of freedom."
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