In a breaking story, Colombia has reportedly rejected deportation flights from the United States. President Trump has responded with an immediate 25% tariff on Colombian goods, imposed a travel ban.
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UPDATED
So many changes have transpired since this breaking story was first reported. Please see the current information dispersed throughout the original copy below.
Colombia Rejects Deportation Flights
In a developing story, Colombia rejected a pair of deportation flights from the United States on Sunday, January 26th. According to statements by the Department of Homeland Security about illegal immigration policy and procedure, those in the US illegally who have committed crimes would be sent back as the first priority.
Mexico rejected a pair of military aircraft from the United States earlier this week at a cost of nearly $900,000 to US taxpayers. Less than 100 deportees were on the flights to Mexico.
Trump Responds With 25% Tariff, Travel Ban
President Trump retaliated against turning the jets back to US shores by announcing a travel ban of diplomatic Colombian officials and a 25% tariff on Colombian imports. The country is the fourth largest coffee producer in the world and responsible for billions in crude petroleum exports to the United States.
“President Trump said his administration would immediately impose 25% tariffs on Colombian goods coming into the U.S., which he described as retaliation for Colombia rejecting two U.S. flights carrying migrants back home.”
“Trump responded in a social-media post that the tariffs would be raised to 50% in a week.”
”These measures are just the beginning,” Trump wrote. “We will not allow the Colombian Government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the Criminals they forced into the United States!”
– WSJ
Colombia Agrees To Terms
In less than an hour, Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, not only agreed to terms but sent his own presidential aircraft to Honduras to retrieve the deportees.
“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’sterms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavittsaid in a statement emailed to The Hill late Sunday.” – The Hill
President Petro’s rejection of the aircraft is a curious one for a few reasons. Prior to departure, the US State Department had authorization from the Colombian government to operate the flights.
“Colombian President Petro had authorized flights and provided all needed authorizations and then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air,” Rubio said. “As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to end illegal immigration and bolster America’s border security.” – CBS
Petro’s rejection of the flights once airborne not only cancelled the prior agreement, but it put the United States in a position for which it must respond strongly given the Mexico situation earlier in the week. But it’s also a departure from prior policy from Colombia who accepted 475 such flights from 2022 to 2024. Petro stated that it was the indignity of the arriving deportees that caused the issue, citing the use of handcuffs and lack of access to potable water onboard the flight operated by military jets.
“Colombia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement the country had “overcome the impasse” with the U.S., and said its foreign minister and ambassador would travel to Washington, D.C., “in the next few hours” to continue discussing the agreement.
“We will continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them dignified conditions, as citizens subject to rights,” the Foreign Ministry said.” – CBS
After accepting the deportees via Honduras, the US backed down on its 25-50% tariffs on Colombia. The country announced its ow retaliatory tariffs would be placed on US goods. While the US has issued a statement “holding [the tariff and sanction orders] in reserve” for the moment following compliance, at the time of writing it wasn’t clear if Colombia had also backed off its own tariff claims.
“In a late-night news conference, Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo announced that the two countries had “overcome the impasse” and that Colombia would accept returned citizens.
While Murillo did not directly refer to the White House statement, according to which Colombia had agreed to allow US military flights to take the deportees back, he did not deny it either.” – BBC
Safe Third Country
To overcome similar showdowns, El Salvador and the US are working on a deal that would allow the country to receive deportees on behalf of other countries.
“The Trump administration is developing an asylum agreement with El Salvador’s government that would allow the U.S. to deport migrants to the small Central American country who are not from there, two sources familiar with the internal deliberations told CBS News.
The arrangement, known as a “Safe Third Country” agreement, would empower U.S. immigration officials to deport non-Salvadoran migrants to El Salvador, blocking them from requesting asylum in the U.S. Instead, the migrants would be deported with instructions to seek asylum in El Salvador, which would be designated a “safe third country.” – CBS
The Safe Third model could prove to be a path forward.
Honduras
Honduras threatened to expel US troops who operate a handful of bases within the country in favor of closer relations with China should the deportation issue escalate further.
“Previously, on January 1, Honduran President Xiomara Castro warned that she would end the US military base in her country if, after taking office as US President on January 20, Donald Trump continued to pursue a policy of large-scale deportation of immigrants, including Hondurans.
According to statistics from the Honduran Government, there are currently about 2 million Honduran immigrants living and working in the United States, sending home an amount of remittances each year equivalent to 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this country of 11.6 million people.
Meanwhile, according to data from the US Pew Research Center, as of 2023, there will be about 525,000 Hondurans residing without legal documents in the US, making this country the fifth largest country of origin for undocumented immigrants in the US, after Mexico, El Salvador, India and Guatemala.
There are currently about 250,000 Honduran immigrants on the US government’s deportation list in 2025, including plans to deport by land transit through Mexico and by air via direct flights between the US and Honduras. – Hai Duong
Conclusion
Mexico, in essence, got away with turning flights around and rejecting deportation flights with no such immediate retaliation but a February 1st deadline to reach a trade deal or face 25% tariffs remains in effect. President Trump has stated that such initial deportations were that of criminals and not asylum seekers or those with other legal immigrant status in the United States. Colombia and the US’ Sunday standoff could be a model for other countries to challenge the US position on deportation. However, it could also set off bilateral trade wars around the world.
What do you think?
Does Trump want to be accused of increasing the cost of a cup of Colombian coffee in the US because of this? That might not play well with coffee drinkers.
Confirmed, Trump hates coffee drinkers. He also hates every American except for himself, but that’s another story
Stop crying about Colombian coffee. Colombian coffee is good but nothing different than Brazilian coffee (same varieties). Colombia has invested a lot of money in marketing and branding so people like you think they are too important in the coffee world. However , they only export 8% of the global coffee production while Brazil and Vietnam export 50%. So no, nobody will miss their coffee here if they get hit with tariffs.
@Santastico … USA ( MAGA ) coffee (Kona) is way better .
Do you sincerely believe the stuff you are saying? Are you really that STUPID?
Yes, Santastico and Alert are that stupid…..read their daily posts. They show us how stupid and racist they are as often as they can. They are also not from the USA, which should come as no surprise.
What about the cost to fly 100 people on HUGE military aircraft at a cost of 900,000. This SHOW is costing taxpayers a bundle. TRUMP is synonymous with failure and wasting money.
F#ck Juan Valdez and the donkey he rode in on.
They are refusing to take back their own citizens. Slap on the tariffs
Reports now are the President of Columbia is sending a plane to pick up the criminals. I understand why they wouldn’t want this human garbage back since they are mainly violent criminals and sex offenders.
@Dave … +1 . Yep , Colombia , Venezuela , and Cuba , themselves deport them to the U.S.A. Send them all back .,
Looks like a developing story, as the Columbian President has now sent his presidential plane to help with the effort. Money talks when it comes to these rogue countries.
Imagine if Columbia was sending back planes of American Citizens who had illegally entered their country.
How is Colombia a rogue country? There president didn’t try to overturn their election. There was no indication that their migrants passed through Colombia or were from Colombia.
You should probably learn something about Colombia. It is a very corrupt country and the current president is under investigation as apparently his campaign was funded but dirty money. His family is all under investigation for corruption and his older son is the one that tipped the authorities about his dad’s dirty past. So, no angels there. BTW, the two planes that were rejected by the president were full of Colombian illegal immigrants.
Relax Kyle. The president of Colombia just bent his knees and is sending their planes to get their illegals. He tried to play smart and lost it since he had allowed two planes to Colombia to take off and later changed his mind. A 25% tariff from the US to Colombia can cripple their economy while for the US it wouldn’t change anything. It is called power play.
He’s picking them up from Honduras where they were left because he doesn’t want US military planes dropping them in his country. He didn’t cave to anything.
People that want Colombian coffee will now pay more for it. Soon to be the same story for most imported items.
Read my post about Colombian coffee. Nothing to be missed there. BTW, I work with coffee so happen to know a bit about it.
This will be cover for all coffee manufacturers to raise their prices
Well, blame the corrupt Colombian president. It is funny when countries ship their criminals to another country and then don’t want them back.
You don’t know a damn thing about coffee, economics or the way the world works. Your ignorance is astounding.
But,,,he’s an expert on everything…
Especially at racism and ignorance.
Might want to update your article… the fascist caved already and is now using his own planes to bring back the Colombians deported.
What’s this going to do to coke prices? Looks like Hunter will have to sell more artwork to pick up the tab.
Daddy is out of office, so now Hunter’s paintings will be priced at their value – $0. Maybe sell them as colorful toilet paper?
One can argue about Trump and his motivations but you can’t argue he doesn’t take sh#t from anyone. He could economically ruin that country in a month.
While Rubio just got a hostage returned from Belarus. Winning!
Unlike the last guy who got walked over by most of the world.
@Dave … +1 .
Don’t be fooled. Trump took it right up the backside on this. He’s spending way more than needed on the military flights. Now Colombia is going to tariff items produced in the US, which will mostly harm red states. Losing!
Very soon, all of South and Central America will be in a trade war with the US.
Let’s be realistic. The tariffs are going to hurt red states more than blue states no matter what. This is just the amuse bouche before a long and hearty meal of price increases for the American public because tariffs are what make life better,. Sure, you’ll pay lots more for many things but at least you’ll know that the 50% extra you’re paying will cause unhappiness in foreign countries.
C’mon now, egg prices have been dropping rapidly over the last week, to cheaper than 2019 levels.
That’s absolutely not true in any part of the country. Prices have not remotely dropped beyond normal market fluctuations for goods.
And Christian is correct. Per World Population Review (and corroborated by multiple other sites), the 10 poorest states in the Union are Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee – based on poverty level (Link: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/poorest-states). Only New Mexico was blue during this last election; all other “poor states” were very red. So yes, any tariffs are going to adversely affect mostly red states – but will affect *all* poor people regardless of political leaning. FAFO at its finest for poor Conservatives. The wealthier states, which mostly trend blue, will survive the price turbulence just fine because they can afford it. But rural poor (mainly whites) in these red states are going to find out the hard way how tariffs work. They won’t learn from it because education is being dismantled and they cheer that on, but oh well – they might perish from hunger because they’re unable to afford food. So ultimately it’ll be a moot point about learning from their mistakes anyway. Wealthy states are fine paying $7 for eggs. But not a tear will be shed for those that vote against their own interests.
I believe that you believe that.
I think Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, E. Jean Carroll, and Fani Willis would disagree.
And the Trump Show continues….lots of chaos and emotion but nothing that actually helps move America forward or address any of it’s real problems that do affect Americans daily.
Kyle, I know you’re a Trump supporter and probably support mass deportations, but you neglected to mention why Colombia refused to accept the flights in the first place.
Not all of the people being deported have been charged with a crime. Colombian officials believed it was inhumane to transport migrants who haven’t committed crimes in military cargo aircraft. They stated their willingness to accept migrant flights once deportees received better more humane treatment.
In my opinion, that’s an important piece of the story for you to have just omitted.
Most of these illegals came through Latin America by bus, planes, cars, etc… until they got to the Mexican border to the US. They came under deplorable conditions way worst than flying in a military plane. The current government is actually doing a favor to send them back to their country of origin or maybe they should drop them back to their country Mexican border and let them figure out from there.
@Santastico … +1 . Yep , they don’t belong here , that is for sure .
How so? What crime were they convicted of committing?
Simply question, are they criminals or not? Is it a crime to cross the border and not apply for asylum? The obvious answer is YES they are criminals.
Those being sent back are not here after entering legally and still waiting for hearings.
They have zero rights, F them!
Dave, it isn’t a crime. Irregular entry or being present without documentation is a civil violation, potentially punishable by deportation. It’s strictly a federal law; states have no grounds to enforce it. There is no fine, jail sentence, or criminal record associated with it. So no, the fact that they crossed the border without wanting to claim asylum, or whatever, doesn’t make them a criminal. At least not in the eyes of US law.
Don’t use logic and facts here, mister. We only deal with recycled talking points and useless anecdotal evidence.
“…potentially punishable by deportation. ”
The potential is now being turned into actual.
“Irregular entry or being present without documentation…” So-called “progressives” never seem to run out of new terms for illegal aliens, but really – “irregular entry”? Like someone just decided to use the space under the border fence instead of a normal crossing point. Lol…
That’s how it’s referred to under US code. That’s also the term CPB uses.
“Kyle, I know you’re a Trump supporter and probably support mass deportations”.
That obvious huh.
Everybody onboard those flights committed the CRIME of illegal entry. They are criminals.
Follow the thread, Chris.
The President of Colombia is a left wing politician so that might be why Trump acted hard on them. There may be a way out. Colombia objected to the use of US military aircraft, not civilian aircraft. Colombia sells a lot of fresh flowers to the US. Most of the florists in the US use Colombian flowers.
Yes, because our economy will suffer if we don’t have fresh flowers. Think about it. Who would have more to lose? The US for not having fresh flowers or Colombia because those fresh flowers will rot if they can’t sell them? Seriously, the Colombian needs to realize he is on the weak side here.
Colombia is officially a MNNA. They’re not going to lose anything. It’s all grandstanding.
Not when we will soon be in a trade war with most of the world. All those countries will work together to cut out the US as much as possible.
You saw this in trumps first term when the trade war with China resulted in them cutting out US soybean producers and ramping up their imports from Brazil.
The mental gymnastics here yall do to justify stupidity cause your in love with your leader. WOW. Yall are heartless and cruel and I sincerely hope that yall suffer the entirely predictable consequences of these tariff wars.
LOL!
https://apnews.com/article/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us-67870e41556c5d8791d22ec6767049fd
It’s funny how the most radical people against immigrants are usually immigrants or children of immigrants.
They are like the Jewish kapos in concentration camps.
Trump is the son of a Scottish woman and married to a Slovenian woman, his lapdog is a South African Nazi millionaire…
Florida is full of Latin MAGA radicals who want immigrants to be burned.
Even the extremist Santastico here is Brazilian, disappointed by his idol Bolsonaro, the corrupt man who has not been able to carry out a far-right coup in Brazil.
@Ricardo: You are jealous you tried to swim across the river from Mexico but a coyote busted your rear so you are back to Nordeste sucking on Lula’s balls. There is a huge difference between immigrants and illegal immigrants. I am an immigrant that came legally to this country 25 yeas ago, got a degree from one of the top institutions in this country, got a work visa sponsored by a Fortune 100 company that then offered me a green card which 15 years ago I decided to become a citizen. All legal, paid lawyers to get the right paperwork, paid taxes every single year. I created hundreds of jobs in the country for people that want to work, nit suckers like you. As for the concern of the cost to fly illegals back to their home country, there is a much cheaper and easy way to get it done. Drop them all at the border with Mexico where they came from, help them cross and they are on their own from there. Actually, they should be thankful the US is flying them all the way back home for free, The alternative is to walk back from Mexico.
Congratulations. It just confirms what I said, you are an racist anti-immigrant immigrant.
Who will always be a “cucaracha”…
And you continue to be jealous. Enjoy USD-BRL= R$6
And these chodes that you support could care less. There’s a deportation ticket with your name on it.
Kyle… I really don’t understand why you make such political posts in a travel blog. Honestly the issues with Colombia are not related to travel in any way. In the end, the comment section becomes a shouting match. Both Matt and you are travel bloggers and I sincerely hope that you will stick with travel from now on. These next four years will be divisive, no matter how you see it. I just want to read about your latest reviews on your flights and travels, not some political news that will become irrelevant in one week. Your political POV is clear so no matter how you phrase these “political” stories, your bias is clearly shown. Just stick with travel please! If I want to read about political news, I can go to any news sites. If I read about people yelling at each other, there are plenty of forums and social media outlets. I just want an escape from these tumultuous times so hope your weekend posts will be more travel related.
And the last 4 years weren’t divisive? Many of us didn’t enjoy America being a laughing stock with freaks running the country. So we showed up and voted in November, not only for Trump, but against the division policies of the senile bastard and the old c#cks#cker ho.
Who can forget the freak stealing the luggage and his pictures?
Adrian – I hope you know how much I like and respect you – I have for decades with your contributions on Airliners.net. I realize that these sorts of stories are off-putting to many and despite the high number of comments are not good for business (clicks are far lower than the clickbait stuff). And I also think Kyle and I approach matters from different perspectives, as you point out. But I do believe firmly that these sorts of issues need to be discussed and are absolutely relevant to life and travel. I find this rapid escalation with Colombia, which was (once, I guess?) the strongest US ally in the region to be nothing short of astounding and I belive it will impact travel going forward…how remains to be unseen. Indeed, it will be a roller coaster the next four years but I get so upset by some of the things happening that I cannot help but to write about it. I hope you will continue to read and perhaps click away from these sorts of stories. There will still be mostly travel analysis and reviews, even later today.
While it’s true of Colombia being a strong US ally, that is put to the test with the leftist president of Colombia. He won 50% of the vote versus the populist 48%. That was stunning news because on the first round, the leftist got 40%, the populist about 28% and the right wing candidate about 25%. It was thought that the right wing supporters would vote for the populist rather than the leftist but not enough did so.
In any case, with the leftist president, Colombia is not so much an ally.
Colombia seems to have 5 major exports, only 3 are subject to tariffs.
Cocaine – free of tariffs
Oil
Coffee
Fresh Flowers
Online sex webcam shows – free of tariffs
Flowers are the most sensitive to tariffs because they will rot in a few days
It seems that the Colombians played a stunt and it failed. However, that may force Trump to be super tough in the future for other countries, which is not always the best thing.
I did not know this until there was a news story about it….. quoting
After Romania, the second-highest number of webcam models are located in Colombia. Ernesto López, the studio’s owner and manager, says that …
Yes, Colombia certianly failed here.
@Derek: You nailed it. He is a very unpopular president that nobody knows how he was elected. His campaign is being investigated because apparently some dirty money came to help him. Anyway, the hysteria about Colombian exports to the US are funny. You showed what most people with a but of understanding of trade and politics know. Colombia exports are irrelevant to the US but the US is very important to Colombia. The leftist tried to play hardball and failed and now is being heavily criticized in his country.
There’s still no mention of the humanitarian angle here, and I think it’s important. By all accounts, we’re no longer tying deportees’ hands together, and have promised to make some sort of concession to how they will be transported. Colombia has even offered to use their government jets. So yes, this was a quick turnaround indeed, but Colombia never objected to receiving deportees, they objected to how US authorities were treating them.
@Jerry: I totally agree on the humanitarian side but I am conflicted here. Among nice people being deported, there are bad criminals (check some of the “angles” that were taken by ICE). Now, how do you manage hundreds of these people all together inside a military airplane. What happens if someone goes rogue at 30,000 ft and do something stupid? As I mentioned before, easy way is drop them back at the Mexican border (same way they got into the US) and let them figure out how to get back to their countries of origin from there but that won’t be humanitarian as well, right? Flying on military planes is a much better way to get back home than the way they came to the US.
Santastico, you are such an idiot, racist chicano, poor right-wing idiot, who repeats false and stupid things like a parrot.
The vast majority of illegal immigrants in the US entered through airports, with legal visas.
That must be why the big wall on the border that Trump built years ago, and that Mexico paid for, does not work.
Yes, you think the criminals that were caught here in the last weeks got a visa from their country of origin US embassy. And you still cannot get a visa to enter here. Keep leaving in Nordeste.
“Keep leaving in Nordeste”? I dont understand.
Anyway, I’m not interested in knowing. Surely, another of the many stupid things you say.
@Santastico I appreciate your response, and to be fair… I don’t have a problem with criminals being treated as criminals. To me, the issue of mass deportation is that actual criminals aren’t being treated differently than migrants whose only transgression is entering the United States. I think that’s wrong.
As for releasing everyone to the Mexican border, you can’t just do that. Mexico doesn’t have to admit non-nationals. I work on the border quite a bit and cross the land border probably 20 times a year. Since the late 2010s, the US has added physical barriers at the actual line above the Rio Grande on the bridges so we can stop people before they even set foot over US soil. That is a new concept, and if we sent millions of people across bridges, Mexico would like install the same barriers we did. Now we’re back to having millions stuck in El Paso/Eagle Pass/McAllen etc.
@Jerry: “Mexico doesn’t have to admit non-nationals.” Agree, but most were addmitted into Mexico as a way to get into the US. BTW, I am not saying that dropping them at the Mexican border is doable and that’s what I said having the US sending them back on a free ride all the way to their country of origin is actually not bad at all. Yes, treating criminals and non-criminals the same is not nice but maybe you can suggest a better way to do it.
And the bullshit continues…
@Ricardo. How is the weather in Nordeste today? Have you collected our Bolsa Familia yet?
@Santastico Well I’d say don’t deport the non-criminals in the first place! My home town already has a labor shortage. Send them to Austin… PLEASE!
But I know not everyone feels that way.
@Jerry – I did highlight “Petro stated that it was the indignity of the arriving deportees that caused the issue, citing the use of handcuffs and lack of access to potable water onboard the flight operated by military jets.” I haven’t seen a statement that reflects they are no longer using handcuffs but I am happy to add it. Almost every comprehensive source on the topic was the same AP article issued by different outlets.
I have seen deportees loaded onto aircraft with ankle restraints and handcuffs and if these are the most violent criminals first, as the administration has said, then I’m not sure if it makes sense to transport them without restraints.
Trump pulled a total Boss move. Pro-America. Keeps us safer. Serves as an excellent example to other offenders.
MESSAGE: Stop sending your child rapists, terrorists, gang members, murderers, and prisoners to America.
The nonsense stops today. Adults back in power. The “Common Sense Revolution” has arrived.
Trump always wins in the end.
Can’t stump the Trump.