Colombian President Blocks Trump’s Migrant Flights Until There Is ‘Dignified Treatment’ of Those Returning

Colombia’s leader, President Petro, says his country will not be party to President Trump’s mass deportation plan — which includes flying migrants to their home countries from America — unless there is “dignified treatment” for those migrants. Mr. Petro is just the latest left-wing Latin American head of state to push back against Mr. Trump’s signature immigration policy.In a statement posted to X on Sunday, Mr. Petro said that he will not allow America to send planes full of migrants back to Colombia en masse. “The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory,” Mr. Petro wrote. “The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”Mr. Petro reportedly began turning some deportation flights around as early as Sunday morning. In a subsequent post on X Sunday, the Colombian president confirmed that he had already turned around two American “military planes” full of migrants.“I cannot allow migrants to remain in a country that does not want them; but if that country sends them back, it must be with dignity and respect for them and for our country,” he said. “We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.”Mr. Petro also alluded to what he said were 15,660 American citizens living in Colombia “irregularly,” and suggested that they check in with Colombian immigration authorities to “regularize their situation.” Other leaders have welcomed Mr. Trump’s flights in recent days. Most notably, Mexico — which Mr. Trump is now threatening with a 25 percent tariff on all goods — has taken in at least four deportation flights, according to the White House. “Thanks to President Trump: Yesterday, Mexico accepted a record 4 deportation flights in 1 day!” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X on Friday. “This comes in addition to unrestricted returns at the land border, the deportation of non-Mexicans, & reinstatement of Remain-in-Mexico. Mexico has also mobilized 30K National Guard.”Brazil and Guatemala have already allowed some American flights to return migrants home, though the Brazilian government lashed out at America on Sunday when Brazilians were returned home in handcuffs. The foreign ministry said in a statement that they needed information about why the migrants received such “degrading treatment” on their journey home, according to Reuters. The leader of Venezuela, President Maduro, has said he, too, would welcome his country’s migrants home. “I always say, my dear migrants brothers and sisters, Venezuela is waiting for you,” Mr. Maduro said in a televised address last week. “Everyone will return so we can be happy in this land — working, producing and hugging each other. And you will also have back the most sacred right: the right to party with your family and friends.” The migrant flights are a key pillar of the Trump administration’s new deportation plans. At the president’s direction, the Defense Department is supplying C-17s and C-130s for the purpose of sending these migrants home.In a background call with reporters last week, a senior Pentagon official said the military is working with both the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to deliver “on President Trump’s orders and supporting the DHS efforts to secure our border and enforce immigration laws.” The defense department is planning to assist with the deportation of around 5,400 migrants currently being detained in the United States.

Colombian President Blocks Trump’s Migrant Flights Until There Is ‘Dignified Treatment’ of Those Returning

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