Colombia’s new president has ordered immigration raids this week and promised deportations of immigrants without legal status.
President Abelardo de la Espriella, sworn in three weeks ago, described the move as a crucial step in reducing crime.
The order went out during a security council session in Barranquilla, with police and the national migration agency tasked with the job. Operations are set to begin this week.
“I will not accept any illegal immigrants, wherever they come from,” De la Espriella said in a video posted Sunday on his X account. “They will have to leave and be deported. It is a political decision I am taking responsibility for.”
He is prioritizing those committing crimes, but will also focus on those lacking legal status to be in the country.
“Colombians must come first, second and third,” he said. “Let the coordinated operations begin to find illegal immigrants, first those committing crimes, then those whose status is not regularized.”
Approximately 2.8 million Venezuelans live in Colombia, representing the largest such group outside their country. Most fled economic collapse and political pressure at home, with previous governments under Presidents Ivan Duque and Gustavo Petro issuing temporary residence permits. Approximately 2.3 million Venezuelans held them as of July, according to the migration service.
Hundreds of thousands still lack regular status. Officials have not released an exact current count of those facing removal, and De la Espriella did not single out any nationality by name. Venezuelans make up the vast majority of foreigners in Colombia, a nation of 54 million people.
The president, a conservative closely aligned with President Donald Trump, took the oath on Aug. 7 in Cali. His campaign stressed security and a “Colombia first” approach.
Duque’s administration rolled out the main temporary protection program in 2021 at the height of the outflow from Venezuela, and Petro kept much of it in place.
Colombia shares a long, open border with Venezuela. This week’s announcement marks a clear break. For nearly a decade, Colombia absorbed the largest share of Venezuelans leaving their country. Humanitarian groups and successive governments treated the flow as a regional challenge requiring accommodation.
Arles Pereda, head of an association of Venezuelans in Bogota, Colombia’s capital, said the new policy was troubling because the two earthquakes that hit Venezuela in June sent a new influx of immigrants into Colombia seeking opportunity.
Catherine Juvinao Clavijo, a member of Colombia’s House of Representatives, was also unhappy with the new president’s policy, posting on X that De la Espriella was “playing at a homegrown MAGA.”
“It’s heartbreaking to see so much xenophobia toward our brothers and neighbors and so much servility toward governments to whom we owe nothing,” she said in her Monday post.
The U.S. Department of State in March
updated
its travel advisory for the Republic of Colombia, retaining a “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” warning for the nation.
“Street crime occurs throughout Colombia and can quickly become violent,” the department advised. “If you are targeted by criminals, do not resist.”
Colombia also faces risks of terrorist violence. Attacks could target U.S. government or local government facilities, tourist areas and attractions, shopping malls and markets, clubs, airports, restaurants, hotels, and transportation centers, with little to no warning, the advisory said.
“Police procedures and investigations in Colombia differ from those in the United States, and crimes against tourists are not always prosecuted,” the advisory stated. “This can be a source of frustration for victims.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
