Colombia and the USA argue about deportations – then Trump threatens

The United States and Colombia have settled a quick -boiled dispute over the deportation of migrants by plane. The agreement is a great success for US President Donald Trump. In his strategy, the Republican is likely to feel confirmed to put international partners under pressure through intimidation and drastic threats in order to achieve his goals. “Today’s events make it clear to the world that America is respected again,” wrote Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

Colombia’s head of state Gustavo Petro had initially banned the landing of two US military aircraft with colombians deported from the United States-whereupon Trump did not torch for long and duties of 25 percent on goods from Colombia and entry restrictions for Colombian. Petro initially let the muscles play and also announced tariffs – but then bent.

The Colombian government agreed to all the conditions of Trump, including the “unrestricted admission” of all Colombians who would be sent back from the United States, said Trump’s spokeswoman in late Sunday evening (local time). Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo confirmed that the stuck situation with the US government had been solved. At Petros instruction, the presidential aircraft was provided to facilitate the return of the Colombians.

Since his inauguration last week, Trump’s government has been making arrest and deportations of migrants without a residence permit, despite all the criticism of citizens’ and human rights. In the course of this, the US government also put people on planes without valid papers to bring them back to their home countries.

Colombia is one of these countries – but President Petro prohibited the landing of the machines. He justified his decision that migrants were not criminals and should be treated with dignity. That is why he had the US military aircraft sent back. Colombia will “accommodate his nationals in civil aircraft without treating them as criminals”.

Previously, the Brazilian government had already complained about the “degrading” treatment of dozens of migrants that had been deported to the city of Belo Horizons from the USA. They were captivated by hands and feet and the aircraft’s air conditioning was defective, said Brazil’s Foreign Ministry.

Trump’s inherited reaction to Petros’s decision followed promptly. The Republican announced that he would impose so -called emergency oils of 25 percent on all goods from Colombia that are introduced to the United States. A week later, the additional tariffs should be raised to 50 percent

The United States imports coffee from the country on the northern tip of South America – but also bananas and other tropical fruits such as mangoes, avocados and pineapple. A free trade agreement has been in force since 2012 that most of the tariffs have abolished or at least reduced.

For reasons of national security, there will also be increased customs and border protection controls among all Colombian goods and nationals, promised the US President. Trump also said that he also ordered an entry ban and an immediate visa withdrawal for Colombian government officials, family members and supporters of the Colombian government. “These measures are just the beginning,” he threatened.

At first it did not look as if Petro wanted to add small. On the contrary: Colombia’s head of state in turn reacted with tariffs of 25 percent to imports from the USA. Colombia imports machines for industry and agriculture, fertilizer, electrical appliances, pharmaceutical products, vehicles and fuel from the USA.

“Your blockade doesn’t scare me,” said Petros in a letter addressed to Trump. In it, the Colombian defiantly wrote that he too was stubborn. “With their economic power and their arrogance, they can try to carry out a coup d’état,” said Petro. However, his country will not be commanded by the United States.

Colombia has economically stabilized according to the corona pandemic, but high inflation, unemployment and social inequality continue to cause problems. In some rural regions there are conflicts between guerrilla groups, drug cartels and the army. Drug trade is a big problem.

The White House published a message just a few hours after Petro’s letter in which he gave himself combative. It said that Petro had agreed to let US military aircraft land with “without restriction or delay” with people flown out of the United States. On the basis of this agreement, the tariffs would not be imposed – unless Colombia does not stick to it.

The visa rankings imposed by the US State Department and the reinforced customs and border protection controls in all Colombian goods and nationals will therefore initially remain in force until the first machine ended up in Colombia.

Petro initially shared the notification of the US government on the platform X without comment, but deleted this post again a short time later. Foreign Minister Murillo plans to travel to Washington in the coming days to have discussions about the agreement.

The agreement is a great success for Trump. The Republican had already announced an unprecedented extent in the election campaign. Immediately after his swearing -in, the Republican initiated measures to make it easier for the responsible authorities to arrest people without valid papers. The measures remained behind the announcements. But Trump, among other things, tensed the military for deportation fees and had large raids announced.

The ICE immigration authority announced on Sunday that “Targeted missions” had started against migrants without a residence permit in the US metropolis of Chicago. According to CNN, several federal authorities received additional powers to arrest immigrants without papers in the USA for the “lightning campaign”. The broadcaster reported that it was an operation lasting several days that would extend across the country.

Trump’s government focuses on publicity effectiveness. TV man Phil McGraw, who is known primarily in the USA through his talk show “Dr. Phil”, was there in the missions in Chicago and had the actions filmed. He also published a video with Trump’s boss for border security, Tom Homan, in which he defended the action of the immigration authority.

In the days after Trump’s swearing -in, the daily number of nationwide arrests of the ICE authority seemed to be on a similar order of magnitude as with predecessor Joe Biden. On Sunday, however, ICE named a significantly higher number with 956 arrests than on the days before. For the budget year 2023 – still under the Democrat bidges – the authority had reported more than 170,000 arrests, an average of around 467 a day. In the financial year 2024 there were a good 113,000 arrests, average 311 a day.

“You will see that the number of arrests will increase steadily nationwide,” said Homan, which Trump has entrusted with the supervision of the planned “mass deportation”, in a TV interview. Anyone who is illegally in the country will be arrested. Homan also made it clear that more financial support from the congress was needed to implement Trump’s far -reaching plans.

Note: This article has been updated several times.