President Donald Trump on Sunday announced strict tariffs and visa restrictions on Colombia after the South American nation’s president, Gustavo Petro, said his country will not accept deportation flights from the United States unless the Trump administration ensures that repatriated Colombian migrants are treated with the “dignity that a human being deserves.”
Trump orders sanctions on Colombia after it refuses deportation flights
Trump retaliates with steep tariffs and immediately revokes visas of Colombian officials after the nation’s president says his country will not accept U.S. deportation flights.
January 26, 2025 at 2:09 p.m The Washington Post
In a series of posts shared on X on Sunday, Petro said the U.S. can’t treat Colombian migrants “like criminals.”
“I do not authorize the entry of North American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory,” Petro said. “The U.S. must establish a protocol of dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”
On Sunday, Trump retaliated by announcing 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the United States, as well as a travel ban and immediate visa revocations for Colombian government officials, their allies and supporters, and visa sanctions on all party members, family members and supporters of the Colombian government.
“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump threatened in a post on Truth Social. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”
Petro’s refusal to accept the deportation flights could complicate Trump’s promises of mass deportations in the early days of his administration. Other Latin American leaders have also raised questions over the United States treatment of deported migrants.
Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is requesting an explanation from the U.S. government over the “degrading treatment” deportees were subject to on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement repatriation flight Friday.
Only Colombia, however, has said it will not accept deportation flights unless migrant conditions improve. Petro explained on X that he made U.S. “military planes” carrying Colombian migrants turn around.
“I cannot make migrants stay 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,” Petro wrote. “We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals.”
Petro’s refusal to accept these flights come as Trump and his administration ramp up efforts to detain undocumented immigrants nationwide — efforts that began soon after the president took office Monday.
The Washington Post analyzed more than 4.1 million U.S. immigration court records from the past decade to find out where migrants come from and where they live once they arrive in the country.
Petro — Colombia’s first leftist president, who is closely allied with the current presidents of Brazil and Mexico — has taken a more defensive stance against Trump and his deportations. On X, he noted that over 15,600 U.S. citizens are living in Colombia without the proper documents. Petro said that, while he’s aware some Americans are living in Colombia illegally, he’s not going to raid them and return them to the U.S. in chains, saying that his government is “the opposite of Nazis.”
“No me verán jamás quemando una bandera gringa,” Petro said on X, Spanish for: “You won’t see me burning a U.S. flag.”
The United States is Colombia’s most important trading partner and security ally. Remittances to Colombia make up an estimated 3.4 percent of Colombia’s economy — more than coffee, a key Colombian export. Most of those remittances come from the United States.
The U.S. Embassy in Bogotá did not respond to a request for comment.