Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella Announces Crackdown on Undocumented Migrants

Colombia's new president Abelardo de la Espriella announced a crackdown on thousands of migrants who are in the country without residence permits.

The far-right president said he would make significant changes to the country's immigration policy that he said would reduce crime and confront criminal groups.

“I will not accept any illegal immigrants, no matter where they come from,” de la Espriella said in a video released on X on Sunday night while chairing a security meeting in Barranquilla.

"The order to Immigration (authorities) is clear: first those who are committing crimes, second those who have not regularised their status and who will have to be deported in due course," he added.

During the meeting on Sunday, the new president seemed to echo the "America first" rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, which whom he is closely aligned.

"Colombians first, Colombians second, Colombians third, may that be clear to everyone," De la Espriella said.

The Colombian president said deportation procedures would start this week by presidential order.

The crackdown will largely affect Venezuelans who, over the past decade, have fled the country’s repressive regime and an economic crisis. Overall, roughly one-fifth of Venezuela’s population has left the country over this period.

Colombia is home to a major Venezuelan diaspora. According to the United Nations, around 2.8 million Venezuelans were living in Colombia as of August, of which over 527,000 are undocumented.

De La Espriella’s move represents a significant departure from Colombia’s previous approach to migration. The country had long sought to welcome and protect Venezuelan migrants, offering them a pathway to permanent residency.

As recently as July, Colombia’s national immigration service said it had granted temporary residence permits to roughly 2.3 million undocumented Venezuelans in the country.

The measure was intended to help migrants and refugees obtain legal status while facilitating access to health care and legal employment. It was part of a scheme introduced in 2021 by then-President Iván Duque at the peak of Venezuela's immigration crisis.

“We understand that the president wants to protect Colombians,” Ana Karina García, director of Juntos Se Puede, an organization that helps Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, said. “But there is no need to protect them from migrants. It has been proven that foreigners do not commit crimes at greater rates".