‘We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals,’ President Gustavo Petro said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed Sunday he blocked military flights from the United States that were carrying deported Colombian nationals.
Last week, President Donald Trump took a series of actions to ramp up enforcement against illegal immigrants, authorizing U.S. military assets to assist in deportations. The White House also confirmed on social media that deportations started late last week.
“The U.S. cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro wrote in a post on social media platform X on Sunday, according to a translation from Spanish.
“I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory. The United States must establish a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants before we receive them.”
In a separate post, Petro said that his administration turned away two U.S. flights with Colombian nationals.
“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves. That’s why I turned back the US military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants,” he wrote on X.
He added that he cannot make Colombian nationals “remain in a country that does not want them,” meaning the United States.
“But if that country sends them back, it must be with dignity and respect for them and for our country. We will receive our fellow citizens on civilian planes, without treating them like criminals. Colombia is respected.”
Neither Trump nor his officials in his administration have responded to Petro’s social media statements. The Epoch Times contacted the Department of Defense for comment Sunday.
The Trump administration sent four deportation flights to Mexico on Jan. 23, according to a statement from the White House on X. The Mexican government accepted those flights, press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted, despite reports that the country had blocked a plane.
“This comes in addition to unrestricted returns at the land border, the deportation of non-Mexicans, [and] reinstatement of Remain-in-Mexico,” Leavitt said. “Mexico has also mobilized [30,000] National Guard” troops, she added.
