A Colombian Air Force plane landed in Bogota with 105 Colombian nationals deported from the United States, marking the third such flight this week, the Colombian Foreign Ministry said.
“Deportees arrived in the morning from San Diego, California,” the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the government remains committed to ensuring the rights and dignity of its citizens abroad.
Two previous flights landed on Tuesday, bringing back a total of 201 Colombian nationals, Xinhua news agency reported.
After Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused entry to US military planes carrying handcuffed deportees on January 26, a high-level bilateral meeting was held in Washington to reach an agreement on their safe and dignified return, the ministry said.
Astrid Caceres, director of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare, told reporters that an initial investigation found the US treatment of Colombian deportees to be “degrading.”
Authorities plan to look into complaints from children who said they were handcuffed and forced by US authorities to wake up at three in the morning to bathe in cold water, she said.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has instructed the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security to prepare a facility for 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay, a US naval base located on the southeastern coast of Cuba.
“We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. This will double our capacity immediately,” Trump said before signing the Laken Riley Act at the White House.
The Laken Riley Act, which mandates the detention of undocumented migrants charged with certain crimes, was approved by Congress earlier this month, marking the first major legislation of the new administration.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told CNN that the base could be reserved for what she described as “the worst of the worst.”
During his campaign, Trump promised large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants once he took office. Since his inauguration on January 20, deportation operations have ramped up across several parts of the United States, reportedly focusing on criminals.
On Sunday alone, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made nearly 1,000 arrests, with much of the activity taking place in the southeastern part of the country, Fox News reported, citing various ICE field offices.
(IANS)