President Donald Trump threatened to punish Colombia with tariffs, a travel ban and other sanctions to compel it to accept deportation flights carrying “Illegal Criminals.” But Colombian officials said there were no criminals among the two planeloads of migrants the U.S. government sent over Tuesday.
Among the more than 200 deportees were two pregnant women and more than 20 children, Colombian officials said after the flights landed.
“They are not criminals,” Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s foreign minister, said in a video statement posted on X. “Being a migrant is not a crime.”
The social media standoff between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Trump erupted over the weekend as the new U.S. administration attempted to launch the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. In the end, Trump dropped his trade threats after Colombia agreed to the flights.
After taking office, Trump said he would remove violent criminals quickly, and he has enlisted the military, the FBI and other agencies to aid his deportation effort.
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“These are murderers. These are people that have been as bad as you get. As bad as anybody you’ve seen,” he told reporters Friday. “We’re taking them out first.”
Immigration officials have made thousands of arrests since Trump took office, including of immigrants convicted of sex offenses and other serious crimes. But officials have not said how many violent offenders have been removed from the country.
The Department of Homeland Security and its immigration and border agencies did not respond to questions about the criminal backgrounds of the deportees to Colombia.
The department said Monday that it had removed 7,300 immigrants who were in the United States illegally in the past week.
Without offering any evidence, officials declared that they had “fulfilled President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport violent criminals illegally in the country.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Tuesday that the administration considers “all” immigrants who are in the United States illegally to be criminals.
“They illegally broke our nation’s laws and, therefore, they are criminals as far as this administration goes,” she said, calling the declaration a “big culture shift in our nation.” Deportation is a civil, not criminal, proceeding.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported last year that people with criminal histories accounted for only 8 percent of the immigrants it was tracking for possible removal.
In the United States, people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Among the more than 200 deportees were two pregnant women and more than 20 children, Colombian officials said after the flights landed.
“They are not criminals,” Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s foreign minister, said in a video statement posted on X. “Being a migrant is not a crime.”
The social media standoff between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Trump erupted over the weekend as the new U.S. administration attempted to launch the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. In the end, Trump dropped his trade threats after Colombia agreed to the flights.
After taking office, Trump said he would remove violent criminals quickly, and he has enlisted the military, the FBI and other agencies to aid his deportation effort.
🌎
Follow World news
“These are murderers. These are people that have been as bad as you get. As bad as anybody you’ve seen,” he told reporters Friday. “We’re taking them out first.”
Immigration officials have made thousands of arrests since Trump took office, including of immigrants convicted of sex offenses and other serious crimes. But officials have not said how many violent offenders have been removed from the country.
The Department of Homeland Security and its immigration and border agencies did not respond to questions about the criminal backgrounds of the deportees to Colombia.
The department said Monday that it had removed 7,300 immigrants who were in the United States illegally in the past week.
Without offering any evidence, officials declared that they had “fulfilled President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport violent criminals illegally in the country.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing Tuesday that the administration considers “all” immigrants who are in the United States illegally to be criminals.
“They illegally broke our nation’s laws and, therefore, they are criminals as far as this administration goes,” she said, calling the declaration a “big culture shift in our nation.” Deportation is a civil, not criminal, proceeding.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported last year that people with criminal histories accounted for only 8 percent of the immigrants it was tracking for possible removal.
In the United States, people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
