By Phil Stewart and Oliver Griffin
WASHINGTON/BOGOTA (Reuters) – On Sunday Colombia rejected two US army planes with migrants deported within the context of the repression on immigration needed by President Donald Trump, mentioned an American official, no less than within the second case of a Latin American nation that refuses i US army deportation flights. .
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the follow, suggesting that migrants handled as criminals. In a submit on the social media platform X, Petro mentioned that Colombia will welcome migrants deported house on civil planes, stating that they need to be handled with dignity and respect.
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Colombia’s choice follows that of Mexico, who final week had refused the request to land an American army aircraft with migrants.
“The United States can’t deal with Colombian migrants as criminals,” wrote Petro, stressing that there have been 15,660 Americans with out an satisfactory immigration standing in Colombia.
Petro’s feedback are added to the rising refrain of discontent in Latin America whereas the Trump administration, began every week in the past, begins to mobilize for mass deportations.
The Brazilian Foreign Ministry final Saturday condemned the “degrading remedy” of the Brazilians after migrants had been handcuffed on a business deportation flight. According to native information, upon arrival, some passengers have additionally denounced mistreatment in the course of the flight.
The aircraft, which transported 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US safety brokers and eight crew members, was initially anticipated to get to Belo Horizonte, within the sweaty state of Minas Gerais.
There, Brazilian officers ordered the elimination of handcuffs and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has designated a flight of the Brazilian Air Force (Fab) to finish the journey, the federal government mentioned on Saturday in a be aware.
According to the Brazilian federal police, the business constitution flight was the second this yr from the United States to move migrants with out paperwork deported to Brazil and the primary from the Trump settlement.
Officials of the American State Department, the Pentagon, the Department for Internal Security of the United States and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
The use of US army plane to hold out deportation flights is a part of the Pentagon response to Trump’s nationwide emergency declaration on Monday’s immigration.
In the previous, US army planes had been used to switch individuals from one nation to a different, as in the course of the United States retreat from Afghanistan in 2021.
This was the primary time within the current reminiscence that US army planes had been used to move migrants outdoors the nation, mentioned an American official.
On Friday, US army planes carried out two related flights, every with about 80 migrants, in Guatemala.
(Report by Phil Stewart to Washington DC and Oliver Griffin in Bogota; extra report by Ted Hesson in Washington enhancing by Marguerita Choy)
