Deportation flights from the US to Colombia resume following showdown that almost led to a trade war

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(28 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bogota, Colombia - 28 January 2025
1. Members of the Colombian Red Cross awaiting the arrival of the deportees arriving from the United States
2. Feet of deportees, one with sneakers without shoelaces
3. Various of deportees in a room with migration personnel and Ombudsman's office, attending them
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Wolfran Vazquez, Colombian national deported:
“They had boarded us on an American Hercules (aircraft) in chains with no food. It was bound for Colombia, and I don't know what happened. They sent us back. According to President (Gustavo) Petro, they sent a plane for us. They handcuffed us to the vehicle. When they were arriving to the Colombian plane, inside, so they wouldn’t find out, they removed the handcuffs inside the bus so the Colombian Foreign Minister would not see the inhumane treatment they were giving us.”
5. Various of deportees leaving El Dorado International Airport, including children who left from a separate door with their faces covered
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jose Montaña, Colombian national deported:
"We were handcuffed from our feet, from the ankles to our hips. We were all (treated) like criminals. There were women whose children had to see their mothers in chains, as if they were drug addicts, as if they were traffickers, when in reality, they were people who wanted a better life for their families.”
7. Wide of Montaña and other deportees in airport
8. Various of deportees leaving airport
STORYLINE:
Deportation flights between the U.S. and Colombia resumed on Tuesday, following a dispute between the two countries that nearly led to a trade war.

The diplomatic drama, which began over the weekend, provided clues on how the Trump administration would deal with countries standing in the way of its immigration policies.

Two Colombian air force planes carrying more than 200 migrants who were expelled from the U.S. landed at Bogota’s International Airport on Tuesday.

President Gustavo Petro welcomed the migrants in a message on X, saying they are now “free” and “in a country that loves them.”

“Migrants are not delinquents” Petro wrote. “They are human beings who want to work and get ahead in life.”

The disagreement between both nations started on Sunday when Petro turned back two U.S. military flights carrying more than 100 migrants who had been expelled from the United States.

Petro also shared a video on X at the time that showed another group of deportees reportedly arriving in Brazil with shackles on their legs.

He wrote on the social media platform that Colombia would only accept deportation flights when the United States had established protocols that ensured the “dignified treatment” of expelled migrants.

U.S. President Donald Trump responded with a post of his own on Truth Social, in which he called for 25% emergency tariffs on Colombian exports to the United States, and also said that the U.S. visas of Colombian government officials would be revoked, while goods coming from the South American country would face enhanced customs inspections.

The U.S. State Department also said that it would stop issuing visas to Colombian travelers until deportation flights resumed.

Colombia received more than 120 deportation flights last year, but those were charter flights operated by U.S. government contractors.

A deal between both countries was made on Sunday night to resume the removal flights, with the White House saying in a statement that Colombia had “agreed to all of President Trump’s terms,” including the arrival of deportees on military flights.


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