Politics Deportation flights: Trump announces penalties against Colombia

After the government in Bogotá prevented the landing of US military aircraft with Colombian migrants on board, US President Donald Trump immediately announced harsh retaliatory measures. In addition to punitive tariffs, he has instructed his administration to impose entry bans on Colombian government officials, among other things, the Republican wrote on the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded. "These measures are just the beginning," Trump threatened.

Keystone-SDA

26.01.2025, 20:21

SDA

Colombia's president: migrants are not criminals

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro had previously refused to allow the US military aircraft to land and said: "A migrant is not a criminal and should be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves." He therefore had the US military aircraft transporting Colombian migrants sent back. Colombia would take its nationals "on civilian airplanes without treating them as criminals".

Trump has now announced that he will impose so-called emergency tariffs of 25 percent on all goods from Colombia that are imported into the United States. The tariffs would be raised to 50 percent within a week. In addition, he has ordered an entry ban and an immediate withdrawal of visas for Colombian government officials. There will also be increased customs and border controls on all Colombian nationals and goods for reasons of national security.

Trump sees US national security threatened

Petro's refusal to allow the flights to land in Colombia endangers "the national security and public safety of the United States", wrote the Republican Trump. "We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations to receive and repatriate the criminals it has brought into the United States!"

Trump's government had pushed ahead with the detention and deportation of undocumented migrants in recent days. So far, however, the actions have fallen short of what the president and his people had pithily announced as an unprecedented deportation program.