Undocumented migrants who were deported back to Colombia this week have cautioned others against traveling to the United States due to President Trump’s aggressive deportation policies.
The Colombian media, represented by journalist Richi Malagon, covered the arrival of the migrants in Bogota on Tuesday. They recounted the migrants’ distressing tales of being deported.
‘Don’t attempt to go [to the US] because they’re deporting everyone…,’ expressed a mother carrying her infant outside the aircraft provided by the Colombian government for repatriating the migrants.
‘They’re not going to let you out in a day… There’s people that have been detained for a month, people who have disappeared.
‘Do not go to the US! They’ve already sent the army to the border.’
The woman said her baby was taken from her when she was detained for eight days before being deported. She claims her baby was not properly fed and a doctor provided by the Colombian government has determined the baby is malnourished.
The migrants said they were treated ‘terribly’ by US officials while they awaited deportation.
One deported man said ICE officials ‘threw out our clothes… they didn’t let us shower, they woke us up at 3am and would wait until we fell asleep to wake us up…
‘They would scream at us, some of us were hit… The treatment was terrible from the start.’
There were at least 26 children deported to Colombia.
The Colombian government received two planes of deported Colombians on Tuesday – one that departed from San Diego with 110 migrants and the other from El Paso with 95.
One migrant told W Radio that he turned himself into ICE and was deported after being detained for 12 days.
The migrants landed in Colombia following a diplomatic fight between its socialist president Gustavo Petro and president Trump.
Colombia refused two military jets carrying its citizens, all of whom had been rounded up and unceremoniously booted from the US.
Petro took issue with the lack of consideration for his people, demanding they be returned with ‘dignity and respect.’
Trump immediately retaliated, imposing an emergency 25 per cent tariff on all Colombian goods and warning that would rise to 50 per cent within a week.
He also imposed a travel ban and revoked visas for Colombian government officials, warning that such measures were ‘just the beginning.’
Colombia quickly backed down and agreed to send Colombian planes to pick up the migrants.
Petro had launched a scathing attack on both the US President and the nation.
‘You don’t like our freedom, okay. I don’t shake hands with white slavers,’ Petro said.
‘Overthrow me, President, and the Americas and humanity will respond… You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and your arrogance.’
Petro warned Trump that his ‘greed’ could be the downfall of mankind in the brutal attack.
‘I don’t like your oil, Trump,’ he said, adding: ‘You’re going to wipe out the human species because of greed.’
Trump, who ran on a mass deportation platform, has made immigration his first order of business since assuming office.
ICE agents have arrested more than 3,500 people since the inauguration last Monday, Axios reports.
On Friday, a senior official in the Trump administration revealed exclusive deportation and detainment data with DailyMail.com, including chilling details of dangerous criminals that were previously walking the streets freely.
Among the worst of the worst to be picked up by ICE on Friday included Cesar Augusto Polanco, 59, a Dominican Republican national who was living free in Boston despite a criminal conviction for second-degree murder.
Almost 5,000 Homeland Security and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers have been deployed by the Trump administration to carry out raids.
The raids have sparked fear in migrant communities, especially since Trump signed an executive order which will now permit raids in the likes of schools and churches.
Many migrants are said to be in hiding, turning usually crowded factories, warehouses and grocery stores into ghost towns.
Frightened undocumented migrants began hunkering down after Trump took office for the second time last week, with dozens failing to turn up to work.
Only 10 out of the usually 40 to 50 migrants workers attended their shifts at a factory in Joliet, Illinois last week, The Chicago Tribune reported, as six federal agencies swept the Greater Chicago area for ‘potentially dangerous criminal aliens’.
The operations are being overseen by Trump’s hardline border Czar Tom Homan.
He justified relaxing rules governing enforcement actions at ‘sensitive’ locations such as schools, churches and workplaces, saying it sends a clear message to illegal immigrants.
‘There are consequences of entering the country illegally. If we don’t show there are consequences, you’re never going to fix the border problem,’ Homan, who was on the ground in Chicago this weekend to oversee the bolstered ICE plans, told ABC News.
However, the move was criticized by Catholic Charities USA which called for ‘dignity’ in dealing with the border crisis.
‘We recognize the need for just immigration enforcement and affirm the government’s obligation to carry it out in a targeted, proportional, and humane way,’ the organization wrote.
‘However, non-emergency immigration enforcement in schools, places of worship, social service agencies, healthcare facilities, or other sensitive settings where people receive essential services would be contrary to the common good.
‘All people have a right to fulfill their duty to God without fear.’
Meanwhile, the president is said to be underwhelmed with the current levels of incarceration and has directed officers to arrest between 1,200 and 1,500 people a day, the Washington Post reports.
Trump ordered each of ICE’s field offices to make 75 arrests per day and managers would be held accountable for missing those targets.
ICE insiders told the Washington Post they are concerned that the quotas make it more likely that agents will ‘engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations.’
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly told the outlet, ‘your story is false,’ but did not elaborate.
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