The Trump administration on Monday said that each nation has a serious and expeditious duty to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States.
"President Donald Trump has 'made it clear that under his administration, America will no longer be lied to nor taken advantage of,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a strongly worded statement.".
It is the responsibility of each nation to take back their citizens who are illegally present in the United States in a serious and expeditious manner," Rubio said, a day after confrontation with Colombia on the issue of taking back illegal immigrants from the US.
"Colombian President (Gustavo) Petro had cleared flights and granted all necessary clearances and then revoked his clearance when the planes were in the air," he said. "As demonstrated by today's actions, we are uncompromising in our resolve to end illegal immigration and strengthen America's border security." On Sunday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro barred US military planes carrying Colombian migrants from entry.
"The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals. I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory," Petro said on X, a move that angered Trump.
"Just learned that two repatriation flights from the USA, heavily loaded with Illegal Criminals, were rejected from entering Colombia. This was done by Socialist President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular within his own country," an incensed Trump wrote on Truth Social, a platform owned by him himself.
According to him, Petro's denial of these flights compromised the United States' National Security and Public Safety.
The US President ordered his administration to immediately take urgent and decisive retaliatory measures. This included visa restrictions and 25 percent tariffs on all Colombian incoming goods, which he ordered to be raised to 50 percent in one week.
The Colombian Government reacted promptly by stating that it was sending a presidential plane for the dignified return of its people from the United States.
Later at night, the US softened its stance and put on hold the sanctions and tariffs on Colombia after it agreed to accept all the terms of President Trump, including accepting flights of deported migrants from America, the White House said.
"The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump's terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the US, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Department of Homeland Security in April 2024 said there were about 11 million illegal immigrants in the US in the year 2022. Mexico topped the list with 4.81 million illegal immigrants, followed by Guatemala (750,000), El Salvador (710,000), Honduras (560,000), Philippines (350,000), Venezuela (320,000), Colombia (230,000) and Brazil (230,000).
According to the DHS, there has been a sharp decline in illegal immigrants from India between 2018 and 2022. It says that 220,000 Indians were living in the United States illegally at the end of 2022. "The Indian population fell by 54 per cent, or 260,000 people, from 480,000 in 2018 to 220,000 in 2022, while the Chinese population declined by 47 per cent, or 180,000, from 390,000 to 210,000," DHS said.
California and Texas continued to be the leading states of residence of the unauthorized population in 2022, with 2.6 million and 2.1 million people, respectively, accounting together for 42 percent of the total unauthorized population.
Other states with significant unauthorized populations were Florida (590,000), New Jersey (490,000), Illinois (420,000), and New York (410,000). The top 10 states accounted for 72 percent of the total unauthorized population in 2022.
According to DHS, from 2018 to 2022, the unauthorized population decreased by nearly 100,000 in Florida and 200,000 in New York, but increased by 110,000 in Texas.
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