Colombia Rejects Deportation Flights in Setback for Trump’s Plan
(Bloomberg) -- Colombia will reject deportation flights from the United States after Brazil decried the treatment of migrants arriving handcuffed and shackled, complicating President Donald Trump’s plans and providing a contrast with the cooperative acceptance of Mexico and Guatemala.
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X that he’d reject US flights carrying migrants unless they’re treated with dignity and not as criminals. Brazil received 88 migrants on Friday, with local authorities labeling their treatment degrading and unacceptable.
Brazil has asked the US for an explanation. “The indiscriminate use of handcuffs and shackles violates the terms of the US agreement, which calls for a dignified, respectful and humane treatment of returnees,” Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “The Brazilian government will not accept the violation of human rights,” Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Instagram.
Criticism from Lula and Petro throw a wrench into Trump’s aim of having united cooperation across Latin America for his promise of rapid deportation of migrants from the US. Leaders from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador said they will receive migrants.
Trump moved swiftly to enact sweeping changes to immigration policy in his first week, giving deportation officers broader powers to arrest and expel undocumented immigrants, while shuttering asylum claims and enlisting the US military at the border with Mexico.
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