Petro’s comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump’s week-old administration starts mobilising for mass deportations.
Brazil’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the “degrading treatment” of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some of the passengers also reported mistreatment during the trip, according to local news reports.
Workers assemble temporary shelters in preparation for mass deportations at the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Friday.Credit: Bloomberg
The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the south-eastern 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.
The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the US carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump’s inauguration, according to Brazil’s federal police.
Colombia President Gustavo Petro is pushing back against Donald Trump.Credit: Bloomberg
Officials from the State Department, Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the US did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
No official order had been issued as of Sunday afternoon (Monday am AEDT) that would allow for the implementation of the measures Trump announced.
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The use of military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to Trump’s national emergency declaration on immigration.
In the past, US military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, but this is the first time in recent memory that it was used to fly migrants out of the country, one US official said.
Military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday. That same day, Honduras received two deportation flights carrying a total of 193 people.
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Colombians have emerged in recent years as a major presence on the US border with Mexico, aided in part by a visa regime that allows them to easily fly to Mexico and avoid trekking though the treacherous Darien Gap. They ranked fourth with 127,604 arrests for illegal crossings during a 12-month period through September, behind Mexicans, Guatemalans and Venezuelans.
Mexico hasn’t imposed visa restrictions on Colombians as they have on Venezuelans, Ecuadoreans and Peruvians.
Reuters, AP
Donald Trump’s full statement on Colombia
“I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia’s Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people. Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures:
-Emergency 25% tariffs on all goods coming into the United States. In one week, the 25% tariffs will be raised to 50%.
-A Travel Ban and immediate Visa Revocations on the Colombian Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters.
-Visa Sanctions on all Party Members, Family Members, and Supporters of the Colombian Government.
-Enhanced Customs and Border Protection Inspections of all Colombian Nationals and Cargo on national security grounds.
-IEEPA Treasury, Banking and Financial Sanctions to be fully imposed.
These measures are just the beginning. 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! “Reuters
