Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan hit a brief stumbling block on January 26 when Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, refused to allow two US flights carrying deported Colombian migrants to land. Petro’s complaint was that the US government was treating the migrants like criminals by repatriating them in military planes.
Around the same time, the US had also deported dozens of Brazilian migrants. These people arrived in the Amazonian city of Manaus handcuffed, with the Brazilian government expressing outrage over their “degrading treatment”. One of the migrants claimed they were not given any water during the six-hour flight nor were they allowed to use the bathroom.
Petro’s pushback enraged Trump. In a post on his Truth Social media site, Trump wrote: “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 US”. He then threatened Colombia with 25% tariffs and said his government would impose a travel ban on Colombian government officials.
