Trump orders sanctions on Colombia after Petro blocks deportation flights

In response to Bogota’s crackdown on immigration, US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs and visa restrictions on Colombia.

Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns, on Sunday, that Washington would impose 25 percent “emergency tariffs” on all goods entering the US, which would then be increased to 50 percent in a week.

He added that his administration will impose a “travel ban and immediate visa revocations” and “visa sanctions” on government officials, as well as their family members and supporters.

Trump claimed that Petro’s action “jeapordized the United States’ national security and public safety.”

Following Gustavo Petro’s declaration that his country wouldn’t accept flights carrying people who have been deported from the United States until its government develops a protocol that treats them with “dignity,” Colombia’s president took the retaliatory measures.

Petro made the announcement via two X posts, one of which featured a news video of deported Brazilians allegedly walking on tarmac while their hands and feet were restrained.

According to Petro, “A migrant is not a criminal and deserves the dignity that a human person deserves.”

“I returned the US military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants because of that.”

Petro added that Colombians would be flown in “civilian planes” and “without receiving treatment like criminals.”

Trump’s border czar earlier on Sunday claimed he was persuaded that nations that refuse to accept citizens would repress him.

“Oh, they’ll take them back”, Tom Homan.

If governments refused, “then we’ll place them]migrants] in a third safe country”, Homan said, without specifying which countries would qualify as “safe”.

Threat of deportations

Trump could face off against governments in Latin America, the country’s original hub for many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants, with his threats to deport millions of those without papers.

After Trump threatened with punitive trade tariffs, Mexico agreed to accept non-Mexican immigrants deported from the US during his first term as president, 2017-2021.

Under US President Joe Biden in 2021-2025, however, Washington reverted to deporting non-Mexican migrants directly to their countries.

On Friday, two Air Force C-17 cargo planes carrying migrants removed from the US touched down in Guatemala.

A total of 193 people were transported to Honduras on the same day on two deportation flights.

As part of a flurry of actions to make good on Trump’s campaign promises to crack down on irregular immigration, his government is also using active-duty military to carry out deportations.