Colombian migrants returning home Tuesday on Colombian military flights described being shackled during earlier U.S. flights that were blocked by their country’s leader in a dispute with President Donald Trump that nearly sparked a trade war.
The Associated PressColombian migrants deported from the United States wait inside El Dorado airport after arriving in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro initially refused to accept two U.S. military planes with migrants, prompting Trump to threaten 25% tariffs on Colombian exports and other sanctions. Colombia then relented and said it would accept the migrants, but fly them on Colombian military flights that Petro said would guarantee them dignity.
One of the migrants, José Montaña of Medellín, said they were put in chains on the earlier U.S. flights. “We were shackled from our feet, our ankles to our hips, like criminals,” Montaña said. “There were women whose kids had to see their moms shackled like they were drug traffickers.” On Monday evening, Trump recounted the conflict with Petro and maintained that migrants should be restrained when flying back home, arguing it is for security reasons.
Colombia sent two planes from its air force to Houston and El Paso on Monday to pick up the migrants whose deportation had been delayed over the weekend, as well as dozens of others who had deportations pending. In total, 201 migrants were transported to Bogota on Tuesday, according to Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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