Colombia to Accept All Deported Illegal Immigrants After Trump Tariff Threat: White House

(Left) U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the WHite House on Jan. 20, 2025. (Right) Colombian President Gustavo Petro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Nov. 19, 2024. Jim Watson, Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

The United States has reached an agreement with Colombia, which will now accept all Colombian illegal immigrants being deported by the former country, including those on U.S. military planes, according to the White House.

“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President [Donald] Trump’s terms,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on X, “including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”

As an understanding has been reached, Leavitt said, the United States will hold in reserve the 25 percent tariffs that were announced by Trump earlier on Sunday, “unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement.”

The tariffs and sanctions were fully drafted but not yet signed, she said.

In a statement late on Sunday, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said: “We have overcome the impasse with the U.S. government.”

“The government of Colombia ... has the presidential plane ready to facilitate the return of Colombians who were going to arrive in the country this morning on deportation flights.”

The statement did not specifically say that the agreement included military flights, but it did not contradict the White House announcement.

Murillo and Colombia’s ambassador to the United States will travel to Washington in coming days to follow up on agreements that led to the exchange of diplomatic notes between the two governments, the Colombian statement added.

The leaders of Colombia and the United States were considering escalating into a toe-to-toe tariff war on Sunday, when Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded to Trump’s announced tariff of 25 percent with his own 50 percent tariff.

Trump’s tariff—which was to increase to 50 percent in a week if officially imposed—was announced earlier on Sunday after Colombia refused to allow two U.S. military planes carrying illegal immigrants from Colombia to land.

Petro announced on the social media platform X that he was refusing to comply with the United States’ demands that he accept repatriated Colombians because “The U.S. cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals.”

Trump responded by announcing emergency 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian exports, which would increase to 50 percent in seven days, alongside a travel ban and visa revocations for Colombian officials and “all allies and supporters.”

“These measures are just the beginning,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. “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!”

Within a few hours, Petro announced a 50 percent tariff on all U.S. goods entering Colombia in response.

“I am informed that you impose a 50 percent tariff on the fruits of our human labor to enter the United States, and I do the same,” said the former member of the socialist “19th of April” guerrilla movement. “Let our people plant corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world.”

Petro Authorized, Then Canceled Flights: Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was unacceptable that Colombia refused the U.S. planes carrying their nationals from landing.

“Colombian President Petro had authorized flights and provided all needed authorizations and then canceled his authorization when the planes were in the air,” Rubio said.

“It is the responsibility of each nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner. ... As demonstrated by today’s actions, we are unwavering in our commitment to end illegal immigration and bolster America’s border security.”

Petro responded on X, saying that he “never refused to accept migrants and we have tried to stop migration,” while blaming the U.S. sanctions against its neighboring Venezuela, which has long been embroiled in a political crisis, for triggering millions to seek to migrate to the United States.

In a separate post, Petro said, “I will never allow Colombians to be brought in handcuffs on flights.”

“Marco, if officials from the foreign ministry allowed this, it would never be under my direction,” he said.

“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” he wrote in a separate post. “That’s why I turned back the U.S. military planes that were carrying Colombian migrants. ... In civilian planes, without being treated like criminals, we will receive our fellow citizens.”

The State Department issued a notice Sunday night confirming that it has ordered the immediate suspension of U.S. visas at its embassy in the Colombian capital of Bogota, and was “authorizing travel sanctions on individuals and their families, who were responsible for the interference of U.S. repatriation flight operations.”

View at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy taken in Bogota, Colombia, on Jan. 26, 2025. Pablo Vera/AFP

“Measures will continue until Colombia meets its obligations to accept the return of its own citizens. America will not back down when it comes to defending its national security interests,” the notice said.

Leavitt said in her update that the visa sanctions issued by the State Department, as well as enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection, “will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”

“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” she said. “President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”

Colombia Sent Presidential Plane to Honduras

The Colombian president had earlier announced that he was sending his presidential plane to Honduras to pick up Colombian nationals who were deported there.

Petro said that his plane would facilitate the “dignified return of Colombian nationals who were to arrive in the country today in the morning hours, coming in from deportation flights.”

Petro also expressed confidence in Colombia’s ability to find other markets to absorb the impact of the U.S. tariffs.

“The ministry should help direct our exports to the whole world other than the U.S.,” he said in a post. “Our exports should be expanded. I invite all Colombian foreign communities to be marketers of our products.

“American products whose price will rise within the national economy must be replaced by national production, and the government will help in this regard.”

Colombia is America’s third-largest trading partner in Latin America. The United States mostly imports crude oil, cut flowers, and coffee from Colombia. Colombia mostly imports refined petroleum, corn, and soybean meal.

According to the U.S. government, in 2022, U.S. exports to Colombia were worth $28.7 billion, while imports from Colombia were worth $24.8 billion.

Reuters contributed to this report.