Its been only a week since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the President of the United States and it seems Trump has upended the entire global geopolitical order. The migrant issue was one of the foremost for the Trump team during the campaign and as soon as he has taken office Trump has made it his topmost priority, with large scale deportations already underway.
Latin America is at the forefront of this deportation campaign. While the Trump team has already clashed with Mexico regarding the migrant issue, now Colombia too has expressed its displeasure on the moves. The Colombian President Gustavo Petro had earlier announced retaliatory tariffs on the US if they went through with the deportations, and Petro insisted that he would not accept migrants who were not treated with “dignity and respect”. However Bogota has eventually backed down from its stand due to a looming trade war with the United States hours after US President Donald Trump threatened the nation with tariffs and visa restrictions for turning away US military aircraft carrying deported migrants.
Trump and Petro Clash
Washington and Bogota had been poised for a damaging trade war after Trump announced that he would hit Colombian imports with a 25 percent “emergency” tariff, rising to a 50 percent tariff from next week, in response to Petro’s refusal to accept the deportation flights. Trump also said he would impose a “travel ban and immediate visa revocations” and “visa sanctions” on government officials, as well as their family members and supporters, and enhance border inspections of all Colombian nationals and cargo.
“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!” Trump said on his social media network Truth Social.
Petro swiftly responded to Trump’s announcement by promising to impose retaliatory tariffs of up to 50 percent. In a lengthy diatribe on X, Petro, a former member of the leftist M-19 armed rebel movement, said he did not like travelling to the US as it is “a bit boring”, though he acknowledged his appreciation for Walt Whitman, Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky.
“My land is made up of goldsmiths who worked in the time of the Egyptian pharaohs and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete. You will never rule us. The warrior who rode our lands, shouting freedom, who is called Bolivar, opposes us.”
“I cannot allow migrants to remain in a country that does not want them; but if that country sends them back, it must be with dignity and respect for them and for our country,” he said in a post on X, which included news footage showing deportees in Brazil at an airport with their hands and feet restrained.
The Trump team has already begun the deportation process, with special focus on Latin America as thousands of immigrants coming from its southern border are from Latin American countries. Most of the nations in the region have extremely unstable governments with a lot of poverty and crime. This has resulted in the locals looking for ways legal or illegal to end up in the United States. The volatility of South American nations is also part due to the extreme interference in their political affairs by the United states and its agencies, leaving them with little chance of a quality and stable life in their own nations.
The immigrants travel to the United States and end up working low income jobs as labourers and house workers, however the higher quality of life, the safety and security and the prospect of their children living a better life draws the migrants to travel to the US. This has led to a rush of Latin American migrants ending up crossing in from the southern border. It has been earlier estimated that by 2022 there were 11 million illegal immigrants in the US. While during campaign, Donald Trump had alleged that Kamala Harris had let in 21 million illegal immigrants in the country.
Deportation begins
Since last week US military planes carrying dozens of expelled migrants arrived in Guatemala, as President Donald Trump moved to crack down on illegal immigration. A total of 265 Guatemalans arrived on three flights – two operated by the military, and one a charter, the Central American country’s migration institute said, updating earlier figures.
Washington also sent four deportation flights to Mexico on Thursday, the White House press secretary said on X, despite multiple US media reports that authorities there had turned at least one plane back.
The flights came as the White House said it had arrested more than a thousand people in two days with hundreds deported by military aircraft, saying that “the largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway.”
The deportation moves have soured the US’s relations with Latin America considerably. However it has been one of the key issues for Trump’s vote bank. Trump had promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling entry to the United States.
On his first day in office Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area while vowing to deport “criminal aliens.” His administration also asserted that it would reinstate a “Remain in Mexico” policy under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.
The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border.
While Mexico and Colombia have already expressed their displeasure at the way the deportations and migrant issue is being handled, other South American countries will also be facing the brunt of this action from Donald Trump if the deportations continue. So far Trump has made these nations back down with a strong tariff threat however they remain far from pleased. Only time will tell if this move will continue to give Trump the success in managing the migrant crisis or there will be some kind of a pushback from Latin America with major consequences for the United States.
