Colombian president orders immigration raids, vows deportations of
migrants without legal status
[August 25, 2026]
By MANUEL RUEDA and ASTRID SUÁREZ
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has
promised to deport thousands of migrants who are in the country without
residence permits, mainly Venezuelans, as he attempts to make
significant changes to the nation’s immigration policies that he says
will reduce crime.
De la Espriella, who was sworn into office three weeks ago, said that he
would order the country’s national immigration service to conduct raids
with Colombian police as early as this week. He announced the new policy
in a video released on Sunday night in his X account where he spoke of
multiple measures to reduce crime and confront criminal groups.
The ultra conservative leader, who is closely aligned with the U.S.
President Donald Trump, said that law enforcement will first target
migrants who are “committing crimes” and then, those who are living in
the country without regular status.
“I will not accept any illegal immigrants, wherever they come from,” de
la Espriella said in the video. “They will have to leave and be
deported. It is a political decision I am taking responsibility for.”
Most migrants living in Colombia come from neighboring Venezuela, a
nation that lost about a fifth of its population over the past decade as
Venezuelans fled a repressive regime that oversaw years of economic
turmoil, and a 75% contraction in the nation’s GDP.
Around 2.8 million Venezuelans were living in Colombia as of August,
according to the United Nations, making it the largest Venezuelan
diaspora. In July, Colombia’s national immigration service said that it
had granted temporary residence permits to about 2.3 million Venezuelans
under a scheme rolled out in 2021 by then President Ivan Duque during
the peak of Venezuela’s immigration crisis.
De la Espriella’s effort to deport migrants who have no regular status
marks a major shift for Colombia, which had long worked to protect
incoming Venezuelans and grant them a pathway towards permanent
residency.
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Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella salutes after taking
the oath of office in Cali, Colombia, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias
Delacroix, File)
Ana Karina García, director of Juntos Se Puede, an organization that
helps Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, said that the Colombian
government stopped handing out new temporary residency permits three
years ago. She said that de la Espriella’s incoming administration
should expand pathways to legal residency, instead of punishing
people who cannot obtain residency permits.
“We understand that the president wants to protect Colombians,” she
said. “But there is no need to protect them from migrants. It has
been proven that foreigners do not commit crimes at greater rates”
than the local population.
Arles Pereda, the president of an association that represents
Venezuelans in Bogota, said the announcement worried him, because
new groups of Venezuelans displaced by the twin earthquakes that
rocked the country in June have been arriving in Colombia to seek
opportunities.
“The doors seem to be closing,” Pereda said. “Not just in Colombia,
but also in Chile, Peru and Ecuador,” where conservative leaders
have also made it harder for Venezuelan migrants to get residency
permits.
In a text message, Colombia’s national immigration department,
Migracion Colombia, said that the agency is currently without a
director. The agency said it will only implement the new policies
outlined by Colombia’s incoming government once a new director is
appointed and installed.
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