WASHINGTON/BOGOTA Jan 26 (Reuters) – Colombia on Sunday turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, a U.S. official said, in at least the second case of a Latin American nation refusing U.S. military deportation flights.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the practice, suggesting it treated migrants like criminals. In a post on social media platform X, Petro said Colombia would welcome home deported migrants on civilian planes, saying they should be treated with dignity and respect.
Colombia’s decision follows one by Mexico, which also refused a request last week to let a U.S. military aircraft land with migrants.
“The U.S. cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro wrote, noting that there were 15,660 Americans without proper immigration status in Colombia.
Petro’s comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump’s week-old administration starts mobilizing for mass deportations.
Brazil’s foreign ministry late on Saturday condemned “degrading treatment” of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some of the passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.
The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 U.S. security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.
There, Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement Saturday.
The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the U.S. carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump’s inauguration, according to Brazil’s federal police.
Officials from the U.S. State Department, Pentagon, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
The use of U.S. military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to Trump’s national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday.
In the past, U.S. military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This has been the first time in recent memory that U.S. military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one U.S. official said.
U.S. military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday.
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Reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington D.C and Oliver Griffin in Bogota; additional reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington
Editing by Marguerita Choy
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Suggested Topics:AmericasDonald TrumpHuman Rights
