The Trump-Colombia Crisis

I have to back-track a little to lay the ground work. Here’s how deportations worked under Biden:

Per Biden’s agreements with Mexico, Mexico was stopping as many illegals as possible before they crossed the border into the US, and sending them back where they came from.

For illegals already in the country, ICE agents would pick them up and transfer them to the nearest detention facility. A judge would determine if an immigrant should be deported, and if so, they were flown either via a chartered commercial plane or by one of ICE’s 10 planes to a staging locations along the southern US border to await deportation. Deportees would then be flown back to their home country either on a chartered plane or on an ICE plane. Everything was done decently and in order with relative efficiency, with the full cooperation of the target countries. No problems came up with Colombia or any other country, since the entire process was coordinated on both ends of the flights. Last year alone, Colombia accepted 124 flights of repatriated deportees from the US.

The verbal brawl started when Trump changed all the rules.

He started by canceling tens of thousands of appointments that migrants had with the US Customs and Border Protection agency to get the paperwork started to allow them to legally enter or remain in the country. A great many of these were for people waiting to get in. Many were in the country already, part way through the paperwork to receive their Visa or citizenship. They were doing everything legally.

Then the raids started.

Instead of using a commercial or ICE plane, Trump ordered the military to use their planes to transport the detainees out of the country. Which of course costs several times more to operate, of which the US taxpayer bears the burden. It had been costing ICE about $8,600 per hour to operate planes to transport deportees. Military planes are costing $21,000 to $71,000 per hour.

Four planes of deportees were flown to Guatemala; two civilian and two military. Guatemala was not happy about the military planes, and Mexico was furious that they were flown across that country. A sane political leader does not launch unauthorized military craft over an ally. That is the action of a fascist dictator showing his claws and teeth.

All Hell broke loose on Sunday, January 26 when two military planes were dispatched to Colombia, and one civilian or ICE plane was sent to Brazil.

The Brazil-bound plane landed first, in the city of Manaus. It was met by Brazilian officials, who were outraged to find the nationals in handcuffs and foot shackles. Furthermore, many, if not all, of the men were chained to their seats! The plane was not air conditioned, and some people were suffering from heat exhaustion, needing immediate medical attention. The deportees told officials that they had been denied food, water and bathroom breaks.

I’m not clear on how Colombian President Gustavo Petro was apprised of this situation, but with the two military planes still in the air on the way to Colombia, he immediately informed Trump those planes would not be allowed to land under those conditions.

That’s when the big fight started.

For hours, Trump and Petro went back and forth. If the planes couldn’t land, tariffs would be imposed on Colombia imports, as well as sanctions and travel bans against the country. Petro retaliated with tariffs on goods from the US. They finally came to an agreement: the deportees would be treated like human beings and allowed to land in Colombia. Both sides withdrew the tariff threats, although Trump said his tariffs will be “held in reserve”.

All of Latin America is alarmed by these events, and Latin American presidents will be holding an emergency summit on January 30. The attendees will discuss the mass deportations of migrants coming from the US, and regional unity.

This is a volatile and developing situation. I’ll update this post if I deem it necessary to do so.