Colombia Orders Deportation Drive Against 848,000 Irregular Migrants, Reversing 10 Years of Policy
Updated
Updated · EL PAÍS USA · Aug 25
Colombia Orders Deportation Drive Against 848,000 Irregular Migrants, Reversing 10 Years of Policy
3 articles · Updated · EL PAÍS USA · Aug 25
Summary
Police operations to locate and deport irregular migrants are due to start this week after President Abelardo de la Espriella issued the order at a security council meeting in Barranquilla.
The move marks a sharp break with Colombia’s decade-long policy of regularizing and integrating Venezuelan arrivals, with the president framing it as a “Colombians first” political decision.
Official data show 848,000 migrants are in irregular status, including 193,000 children and adolescents; Venezuelans account for about 2.8 million of Colombia’s immigrant population.
Opposition lawmakers and migration experts said linking irregular status to criminality stigmatizes migrants, risks deepening xenophobia and could hit a population that contributes about $3 billion a year to Colombia’s economy.
The shift places Colombia closer to anti-immigration agendas seen elsewhere in the region, despite its uniquely porous 1,378-mile border with Venezuela and its role as host to nearly a third of the 7.8 million Venezuelans who have fled since 2015.
Will Colombia’s sudden migrant crackdown trigger a humanitarian disaster, or is it a political smokescreen hiding recent earthquake recovery failures?
Could treating undocumented migrants as terrorists actually empower cartels by pushing vulnerable populations deeper into the shadows of human trafficking?
How can the government legally execute mass deportations when being undocumented is classified as a mere administrative issue rather than a crime?