The U.S. Says Colombia Accepted Conditions Regarding Deported Migrants, No Tariffs Imposed

The White House announced that the Colombian government agreed to all conditions set by the President of the United States regarding the return of illegal deported migrants, thus Washington will not impose tariffs or sanctions against this country. The statement from the White House came after Donald Trump announced extensive punitive actions against Colombia for not allowing two military planes carrying illegal migrants from that country to land, and his Colombian counterpart threatened to impose tariffs on American goods. However, Caroline Levitt, a White House spokesperson, stated early Monday, February 27, that Colombia agreed to all of Donald Trump's conditions regarding the acceptance of illegal migrants from the United States. According to Ms. Levitt, some of the terms of the agreement include 'unlimited acceptance' of all illegal Colombian migrants, 'including by U.S. military aircraft.' The Colombian government has not yet issued an official response, but Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, reposted the White House spokesperson's statement on his social media account. On Sunday, U.S. officials reported that the Colombian government had denied landing rights to two U.S. military planes carrying illegal Colombian migrants. Following this, Donald Trump announced that he had ordered the implementation of extensive punitive measures against Colombia. The U.S. President detailed his punitive actions, including emergency tariffs of 25% and then 50% on all imports from Colombia, travel bans, and immediate visa cancellations for Colombian government officials and their supporters, as well as all members of the Socialist Party of that country and their families. He also mentioned increased customs inspections and border protection for all Colombian nationals and shipments, and the full implementation of Treasury Department sanctions, including banking and financial restrictions. Subsequently, the U.S. State Department announced that its embassy in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, had suspended the visa issuance process. Meanwhile, Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia, announced shortly after Mr. Trump's statements that he had ordered an increase in import tariffs from the United States to 25%. The conflict in relations between the two countries arose after the Colombian government denied landing rights to two U.S. military planes carrying illegal migrants deported from the United States. According to Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, the Colombian President initially agreed to these flights and granted the necessary permits, but 'when the planes were in the air, he revoked his permit.' Mr. Rubio described the Trump administration's commitment to ending illegal immigration and strengthening U.S. border security as unwavering and emphasized in his statement: 'It is the responsibility of every country to seriously and promptly repatriate its citizens who are illegally present in the United States.' Gustavo Petro had previously stated that the Colombian government would not accept flights carrying deported migrants from the United States unless the Trump administration established a protocol to treat these individuals with 'dignity.' He also stated on Saturday via a message on social media that 'a refugee is not a criminal and should be treated with dignity and according to humanitarian principles, which is why I returned the U.S. military planes carrying Colombian migrants.' In recent years, the presence of Colombian nationals at the U.S.-Mexico border has increased significantly; partly because Mexico has not imposed visa restrictions on Colombian citizens, unlike citizens from several other countries in the region. According to the Associated Press, in the 12-month period ending last September, the number of Colombians arrested for illegal entry into the U.S. reached about 128,000, ranking fourth after Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Venezuelans. No reports have been published regarding the number of Colombian migrants deported who were on the two U.S. military planes. Mass deportations of illegal migrants from the U.S. have begun in recent days, and on Friday, the United States returned a total of 265 Guatemalan citizens to their country using three planes, two of which were military. On the same day, two other American planes returned a total of 193 Honduran citizens to their country.