Colombia sends air force planes to bring home migrants deported from the US

A Colombian Air Force jet was expected to land back in the country early Tuesday carrying 110 Colombians deported from the United States.

The flight from San Diego, along with another traveling from Houston back to Colombia, follows a dispute sparked Sunday when Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to allow U.S. military planes to send deported Colombians back home.

Petro said such treatment was disrespectful. His refusal prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to threaten to impose tariffs, which Petro said he would reciprocate before the two countries announced they had reached an agreement to defuse the situation.

Petro said the Colombian Air Force flights would allow the migrants to travel home “without being handcuffed.”

“This provision: dignity for deportees, will be applied to all countries that send deportations to us,” Petro said.

Trump has quickly moved to carry out deportations, one of his campaign pledges, since taking office last week. He said Monday that if countries do not accept their migrants fast, “they’ll pay a very high economic price, and we’re going to immediately install massive tariffs.”

While Colombia balked at the U.S. military flights, Guatemala has accepted several U.S. Air Force flights carrying Guatemalan migrants deported from the United States in recent days.

The latest flight took place Monday, with 64 Guatemalans returning home.

Guatemala’s Vice President Karin Herrera said Monday she was monitoring the care and condition of migrants arriving from the United States.

“Guatemalan migrants are people with rights and dignity. Our commitment is to guarantee that their arrival in the country, to their land, is in the best conditions,” Herrera said.

U.S. deportation flights are not new, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carrying out hundreds of the flights each year. But the use of military flights is new, with the agency previously using commercial and chartered flights to deport people who are illegally in the United States.

Some material for this article came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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