Overview
- President Abelardo de la Espriella publicly ordered police and Migration Colombia to start coordinated operations this week in Barranquilla to identify and deport foreign nationals first accused of crimes and then those without regular status.
- The order, announced during a security council meeting that was widely reported on Monday, sets an operational timeline but did not include a legal decree, written protocol, or numerical deportation targets.
- De la Espriella packaged the migration push within a tougher security agenda that creates a Bloque Nacional de Búsqueda, reactivates financial‑intelligence tools, and will treat all illegal armed groups as terrorists.
- Human‑rights groups, migrant associations and opposition lawmakers warned the directive risks stigmatising migrants, could curtail due process if normal administrative proceedings are bypassed, and may increase xenophobia and social tensions.
- Colombia hosts roughly 2.8–3 million Venezuelans and has carried out thousands of deportations and expulsions in recent years, so experts say the order could affect hundreds of thousands of people and reshape the country’s recent model of migrant regularization.