Colombia to block US deportation flights amid growing LatAm pushback

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Sunday he would block US deportation flights until migrants were guaranteed “dignified treatment,” escalating a row between Washington and left-wing Latin American governments over US President Donald Trump’s migrant crackdown.

“The United States cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I forbid entry to our territory to US planes carrying Colombian migrants,” Petro wrote on X, adding they would only be accepted once Washington had established rules ensuring they would receive “dignified treatment.”

In a later post he said he had “turned back US military planes that were coming with Colombian migrants,” without saying when or how many planes were involved.

He added however that he would allow in civilian US flights carrying deported migrants, as long as they were not treated “like criminals.”

US officials did not immediately respond to Petro’s remarks, but Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told ABC’s “This Week” show on Saturday that migrants could be sent to a third country if original destination countries refused to allow flights in.

“President Trump’s going to put America first,” Homan said, adding that if countries refused to take back migrants, “then we’ll place them in a third safe country.”

Trump’s threats to deport millions of migrants has put him on a potential collision course with governments in Latin America, the original home to many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.

– ‘Tied hands and feet’ –

Colombia’s warning to Washington came amid outrage in fellow left-wing ally Brazil over the treatment by the Trump administration of dozens of Brazilian migrants deported back to their country on Friday.

The migrants were handcuffed on the flight aboard a civilian aircraft, in what Brazil called “flagrant disregard” for their basic rights.

Edgar Da Silva Moura, a 31-year-old computer technician who was among the 88 deported migrants, told AFP: “On the plane they didn’t give us water, we were tied hands and feet, they wouldn’t even let us go to the bathroom.”

“It was very hot, some people fainted.”

TV footage showed some passengers descending from the plane with their hands handcuffed and their ankles shackled.

Several deportation flights since Trump’s return to office a week ago have garnered public and media attention, though such actions were also common under previous US presidents.

Friday’s deportation flight to Manaus was not part of Trump’s program of mass deportations ordered by Trump, but rather stemmed from a 2017 bilateral agreement, Brazilian officials said.

In a break with prior practice, however, the Trump administration has begun using military aircraft for some repatriation flights, with at least one landing in Guatemala this week.

To prepare for the deportations, several Latin American countries have launched programs to “welcome back” their citizens.

The Mexican government said it planned to open nine shelters for its citizens and three more for deported foreigners, under a scheme called “Mexico embraces you.”

President Claudia Sheinbaum added the government would provide humanitarian assistance to deported migrants from other countries before repatriating them.

Honduras, a central American country that is also a large source of migrants to the United States, said it was launching a program for returnees entitled “Brother, come home” which would include a “solidarity” payment, food and access to employment opportunities.

das/cb/des