The president of Colombia has called on Colombians who are working in the United States without legal status to return home as quickly as possible.
Gustavo Petro stated in a morning post on the X platform that “wealth can only be produced by workers.” “Let’s create social wealth in Colombia.”
The leftist President said that his government would provide loans to anyone who accepted his invitation to come home and enroll in its program to start a small business.
Petro’s comments came after a bitter immigration feud with U.S. President Donald Trump last weekend that almost triggered a war of words and a rupture in diplomatic relations between America and its historical ally in South America.
In a previous social media storm Petro accused the Trump Administration of mistreating immigrants who had entered the U.S. without permission by handcuffing and removing them from military flights bound for Latin America. Trump was furious when Petro refused to allow two of these flights to land.
The two sides then negotiated a ceasefire amid investor protests that Petro was sabotaging Colombia’s export economy which is heavily dependent on U.S. purchases.
According to Witness at the Border (a group that tracks flight information), Colombia received 475 deportation planes from the U.S. between 2020 and 2024. It ranked fifth after Guatemala, Honduras Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras. In 2024, it accepted 124 deportation flights.
