Monday, August 24th 2026 - 21:37 UTC
“The order to Migration is clear: first those committing crimes, second those who have not regularised their status, who in due course will have to be deported,” he said
Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered coordinated operations between the migration authority and the police to begin this week to identify and deport foreigners without regular migration status, marking a shift from the policy the country has maintained for more than a decade as the main destination for Venezuelan migration.
“The order to Migration is clear: first those committing crimes, second those who have not regularised their status, who in due course will have to be deported,” he said during a security council meeting held on Sunday in Barranquilla, the alternate seat of his government. The remarks became known through a leaked video of that meeting. “I will not accept illegal migration. First Colombians, second Colombians and third Colombians,” he added.
Figures on the scope of the measure differ. The Venezuela Observatory at Universidad del Rosario puts the number of Venezuelans without regular status at 848,000, of whom 193,000 would be minors. Migración Colombia data as of January 2026, cited by the outlet La Silla Vacía, indicate that around 82% of Venezuelan migrants hold regular status and close to 500,000 do not. The United Nations refugee agency estimated three million Venezuelans living in Colombia in 2025.
