Colombian air force planes sent to fetch deportees from US 9 hours ago Vanessa Buschschlüter BBC News Two Colombian air force planes sent to the US to fetch deported migrants have landed in the capital, Bogotá.
Diplomats from both countries reached a deal which has seen Colombia send its own air force planes to collect the migrants, a process that Petro said ensured they were treated “with dignity”.
The treatment of deportees on US military flights seems to have been at the centre of the spat between the two governments.
Colombia has accepted deportation flights from the US in the past: in 2024, 124 planes carrying deported migrants from the US landed in the country.
It is not currently clear if Colombia will continue sending air force planes to the US to collect deported migrants or if Tuesday’s two flights were a one-off.
The Colombian Air Force sent planes to pick up deportees from the United States.
Nine hours earlier.
This is Vanessa Buschschlüter.
NBC News.
In Bogotá, the capital, two Colombian Air Force aircraft that were sent to the United States to pick up deported migrants have touched down.
When Colombian President Gustavo Petro forbade the US military planes from landing on Sunday, claiming that the migrants were being treated like criminals, the migrants were on US military flights bound for Colombia.
Following Donald Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Colombian goods and Petro’s vow to retaliate in kind, the incident brought the two nations dangerously close to a trade war.
Colombia sent its own air force planes to pick up the migrants after diplomats from both nations came to an agreement. Petro claimed that this procedure guaranteed the migrants were treated “with dignity.”.
He wrote on X, “They are Colombians, free and dignified, and in their homeland where they are loved.”.
He shared pictures of the migrants leaving the aircraft unhandcuffed as well.
The dispute between the two administrations appears to have been centered on how deportees were treated on US military aircraft.
124 aircraft carrying deported migrants from the United States landed in Colombia in 2024, demonstrating the country’s history of accepting deportation flights from the United States.
On Sunday, however, Petro posted on X about a news video that showed migrants being deported from the United States to Brazil. The migrants were handcuffed and had their feet restrained during the flight.
“Never allow Colombians to be returned handcuffed on flights,” declared the Colombian leader.
President Trump was incensed by Petro’s refusal to allow the US military planes to land because he ran on a platform of “mass deportations” to remove illegal migrants from the US.
President Trump ordered his administration to “immediately” impose 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian goods entering the United States, with the goal of raising them to 50 percent within a week.
He also restricted visas and imposed other sanctions, which many observers believed were an attempt to warn other nations to cooperate or risk dire repercussions.
Fox News reported on Monday that “this was about reminding Colombia that there is a price to pay if you go against your agreements, things that you promise,” according to US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
On Monday and Tuesday, the US embassy in Bogotá canceled hundreds of appointments for visas.
Letters informing Colombians that the cancellation was “due to the Colombian government’s refusal to accept repatriation flights of Colombian nationals” were given to those who arrived at the gates, according to the Associated Press.
Prior to this, US officials had stated that the visa restrictions would not be removed until the migrants who were rejected on Sunday had reached Colombia.
Both the Colombian government and the United States have not disclosed specifics of the agreement that defused the situation.
As stated in a statement by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, “the Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”.
Luis Gilberto Murillo, Colombia’s foreign minister, declared that the “impasse” with Washington had been “overcome” in the meantime.
“Dignified conditions” would be the continued treatment of Colombian deportees by his government, Murillo added.
It is unclear at this time whether Colombia will keep sending air force aircraft to the United States to pick up deported migrants or whether the two flights on Tuesday were an isolated incident.
Following the Colombia-US spat, Honduras called a summit of Central American and South American leaders to discuss how to handle the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
His attendance has already been confirmed by President Petro.
