About the fate of deported migrants between the USA and Colombia

About the fate of deported migrants between the USA and Colombia

"Do you know who the next president is? The fun is over here, the music has changed ... You have to go back." These words are well remembered by Daniel Oquendo, 33, after crossing the US Mexican border on January 20th.

return to Colombia

eight days later is Oquendo back in his home country of Colombia, and that according to a bitter diplomatic dispute between Donald-trump-47"> US President Donald Trump gustavo petro. Oquendo was one of about 200 columbian migrants Should have been deported on Sunday morning, but were turned over by the Colombian authorities.

confusion in collection

"It was very confusing: nobody told us something. The US customs and border protection authority (CBP) took us out of our cells in San Diego and put us in a C-130 military aircraft. They told us that the flight to Bogotá would take seven hours, but when we ended up, it was ten hours, and when the heckage of the plane opened, we could see a ambulance that we were able to see 'Houston' said, ”said Oquendo.

"We were back in the United States, and yet nobody wanted to tell us anything."

political tensions and diplomatic back and forth back and forth

Petro had apparently blocked the landing of the two US military flights with the deported, which triggered an exchange with his US colleague, which was accompanied by threats of customs wars before Bogotá finally gave.

to Houston spent Oquendo and the other migrants the night in El Paso, where the cbp officials took care of their handcuffs. On Monday, officials from the Colombian consulate arrived to question them.

republication and return with dignity

his return to US soil was only short. On Tuesday, Oquendo was finally repatriated to Colombia in an airplane that was sent by the Colombian government. The Colombian government described the flight as a dignified and respectful return.

Deportation flights are nothing new for Colombia - in 2024 there were more than a hundred flights - but the staging of performed migrants in a military plane was too much for Petro.

The call to human dignity

"A migrant is not a criminal and has to be treated with the dignity that every person deserves ... I cannot allow migrants to stay in a country that does not want them; but if this country sends them away, it has to happen with dignity and respect. We will welcoming our compatriots on civil aircraft and without treatment," posted the Colombian President on the Sunday morning.

shared opinions under the deported

Oquendo thinks that the political dispute was superfluous: "It was simply an unnecessary media circus. The president wanted to make us a case - but why? In the end he had to accept the deportations. It was all for free," he told Cnn.

not all of them deported his opinion. Andrei Barrientos, 36, another Colombian who was deported from El Paso to Bogotá on Tuesday morning, surprisingly positive: "You have to thank the president for the friendly treatment we received. We were still in El Paso, and as soon as we climbed the plane, the officers smiled at us and said: 'Welcome to Colombia!'"

Inadequate information in the detention cells

Neither Oquendo nor Barriientos were aware of the diplomatic conflict behind their repeated trips until they arrived in Bogotá. "I found out everything today when I ended up in Bogotá and it was full of journalists who asked me what had happened ... What did I know? In the CBP centers there are television, but they do not allow news channels, it only runs sports and old films, and of course we have no telephone. Only now do I realize what happened there," said Barrientos.

The striving for a better future

He believes that Petro had to prove an important point. "We didn't do anything wrong: I'm not a criminal. Yes, I have exceeded the border illegally, but I did it to help my family ... and they treated me as if I were a gangster," he said to Cnn.

Although the handcuffs and removal of belts and laces in deportations are common practice, both Oquendo and BarriSos find treatment by the US authorities, especially when loading into the military aircraft in the early morning of Sunday.

"The CBP officials spoke mostly Spanish, they pushed us hand cuffed and as if in a prison. I understand that the military has certain procedures, but there were also children and families," said Oquendo, who came across the border in Tijuana and was arrested in San Diego. According to the Colombian Migration Institute, 77 women and 16 minors were among the migrants deported this week.

an end and new perspectives

for BarriStos it was his second deportation from the USA - and probably the last one. "I don't want to try it a third time," he said to CNN and explained that he now intended to look for opportunities in his hometown Medellin.

Oquendo, on the other hand, indicates the unsustainable economic conditions in Colombia, which make it impossible for him to stay there. "My whole family merged to help myself, I can't disappoint them," he said. "I'm currently here in Bogotá and have a place to stay, but there are no jobs here. I have to move on somewhere."