August 24, 2026
Colombia’s right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered a crackdown on irregular migration, instructing authorities to begin detaining undocumented foreigners convicted of crimes with a view to deporting them.
The hardline lawyer took office on August 7 with an agenda to fight crime and drug-trafficking guerrillas.
Irregular migration was not a central theme of his campaign but in video footage of him chairing a security meeting in his Caribbean stronghold of Barranquilla on Sunday, he said: “I will not accept illegal migrants, no matter where they come from.”
“The order to Immigration (authorities) is clear: first those who are committing crimes, second those who have not regularized their status and who will have to be deported in due course.”
