- Colombia has refused to accept U.S. deportation flights, stating that migrants must be treated with dignity and not as criminals. President Gustavo Petro emphasized that U.S. military aircraft carrying deported Colombians would not be allowed to land until proper protocols for respectful treatment are established.
- President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will impose sweeping retaliatory measures on Colombia, including tariffs and sanctions, after the South American country turned away two U.S. military aircraft with migrants being deported as part of the new U.S. administration’s immigration crackdown. Trump’s punitive action appeared aimed at making an example of Colombia, the second case of a Latin American nation refusing U.S. military deportation flights. It was a demonstration of a more muscular U.S. foreign policy and showed a renewed willingness by Trump to use the might of the United States to force other countries to bend to his will. The retaliatory measures include imposing 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods coming into the United States, which will go up to 50% in one week; a travel ban and visa revocations on Colombian government officials; and emergency treasury, banking and financial sanctions. Trump said he would also direct enhanced border inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo.
- BREAKING: CNN reports that Colombia is now offering the presidential plane to help repatriate people being deported from the US.
- BREAKING: Trump administration has directed ICE officials to ramp up arrests to at least 1,200 to 1,500 per day because the president is disappointed with the results so far, per WaPo.
Remember this the next time people say something risibly stupid about the impossibility of repatriating foreigners. President Eisenhower deported 1,074,277 Mexicans in one year, which is nearly 3,000 per day, and that was with 1954 technology.