US President Donald Trump said today that he is ordering tariffs, visa restrictions and other retaliatory measures against Colombia, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA, after the Colombian government refused to accept two flights of deported illegal immigrants from the US.
Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social. He said that Colombian President Gustavo Petro's decision "threatens" US national security.
“These measures are just the beginning“, Trump wrote. “We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations to accept and return the criminals they brought into the United States“.
Earlier today, Petro announced that his government would not accept flights carrying migrants deported from the United States until the Trump administration creates a protocol to treat them with “dignity“.
Following Trump's reaction, however, the government in Bogota announced that it was sending its presidential plane to the United States to transport “dignity“ illegal immigrants that the Trump administration had previously wanted to deport with military aircraft and whose entry Bogota refused.
“The government of Colombia, under the leadership of President Gustavo Petro, has made the presidential plane available to facilitate the dignified return of citizens who were due to arrive in the country this morning on deportation flights“, said a statement from the presidency sent to the media and quoted by AFP.