“Do you know who the next president is? The fun is over for you, the music has changed… You have to go back. ”
Daniel what, 33, remembers the first words that US border agents told him after crossing the US-Mixic border on January 20.
Eight days later, what is back in his home Colombia after a bitter diplomatic dispute between US President Donald Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro. He was one of about 200 Colombian migrants who should be deported on Sunday morning (26), but the Colombian authorities rejected them.
“It was very confusing: no one told us anything. The US border customs and border protection took us out of our cells in San Diego and placed us in a C-130, with seats and everything. “We were told that the flight to Bogota would last seven hours, but when we landed it was ten hours and, as soon as the rear door of the plane opened, we saw an ambulance that said ‘Houston’,” he said.
It was found that Petro had blocked the landing of the two US military flights carrying the deported, triggering a cable of war with his American colleague with threats from a tariff war before Bogota finally giving in.
After Houston, who and the other migrants spent the night at El Paso, where CBP agents removed their handcuffs and, on Monday (27), employees of the Colombian consulate arrived to interview them.
His return to American soil was brief. On Tuesday (28), what was finally repatriated to Colombia on a plane sent by the Colombian government, which promoted the flight as a more worthy and respectful means of transport.
Deportation flights were not new in Colombia – there were more than 100 flights in 2024 – but the show of handmade deported on a military plane had crossed the limits to Petro.
“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that every human being deserves… I cannot allow migrants to remain in a country that does not want them; But if this country expels them, it must be with dignity and respect for them and to our country. “We will receive our compatriots on civil planes without treating them as criminals,” published the Colombian President on Sunday morning.
Who believes the confrontation was superfluous. “It was an unnecessary media circus. The president wanted to follow our advice and… for what? In the end, he had to accept the deportations. “It was all in vain,” he told CNN.
But not all deported agree. Andrei Barrientos, 36, another Colombian who was deported on Tuesday morning from El Paso to Bogota, told CNN which was a surprisingly welcoming experience after days of uncertainty.
“We must thank the president for the good treatment we received. We were still in El Paso, and as soon as we got on the plane, the officers smiled at us and said, “Welcome to Colombia!?”
None of them knew about the diplomatic impasse behind their repeated round -trip trips to Bogota, they said.
“I learned of all this today when I arrived in Bogota and was full of journalists asking me what had happened… What did I know? There are televisions at CBP centers, but they don’t let you watch news channels, they are all old sports and movies, and of course we didn’t have a phone. “Only now did I realize what happened there,” Barrientos told CNN.
He believes that Petro had something important to prove.
“We didn’t do anything wrong: I’m not a criminal. Yes, I crossed the border illegally, but I did it to help my family… and they treated me like I was a gangster, ”he told CNN.
Although it handles and removing the belts and laces of the deported is a common practice in this type of operation, both those who believe that they were treated in a degrading manner by US immigration agents, especially when boarding the military flight in the early hours of the morning Sunday.
“The CBP staff, most of whom spoke Spanish, raised us and pushed us as if we were in prison. “I understand that the military has procedures, but there were children, families,” he said, who crossed in Tijuana and was detained in San Diego.
According to the Colombian Migration Institute, among the migrants deported this week were 77 women and 16 minors.
For Barrients, it was the second time he was deported from the United States, and probably the last one. “I don’t want to try a third time,” he told CNN, Saying that now she plans to look for opportunities in her hometown, Medellin.
However, what does not emphasize that the difficult economic conditions of Colombia make it impossible to permanence.
“My whole family struggled to help me, I can’t disappoint them,” he told CNN. “Now I’m here in Bogota and I have a place to stay, but there is no work here. “I have to keep going somewhere.”
