Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered the country's immigration authorities to launch joint operations with police this week to identify and remove foreigners living in Colombia without legal residency documents.
De la Espriella, who took office on August 7 and identifies with the hard right, made tackling organized crime, drug trafficking networks and criminality central to his political agenda from the start of his presidency.
Those plans were temporarily overshadowed just three days after he took office, when a powerful earthquake struck Colombia. The disaster killed more than 300 people and caused extensive damage to thousands of buildings in the west of the country.
Order given in Barranquilla
Although irregular migration had not been a major theme of his election campaign, footage from a meeting of his government's security council in the northern city of Barranquilla on Sunday showed De la Espriella instructing authorities to prioritize identifying and arresting migrants who have committed crimes.
He said the order given to immigration services was clear, speaking from the Caribbean city he considers home and where he has set up an alternative seat of the presidency to Bogota.
He said the priority was first those who commit crimes, and second those who are not legally in the country, who must be deported.
For decades, Colombia has been the main destination for Venezuelan citizens leaving their country because of its economic and political crisis. According to Colombia's immigration service, 2.8 million Venezuelan migrants were living in Colombia as of June 2025, of whom more than 527,000 lacked residency permits.
Previous right-wing leaders in Colombia showed tolerance toward Venezuelan migrants, arguing they were victims of the policies pursued by socialist former president Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
'Colombians first'
In remarks that directly echoed the "America First" doctrine of US Republican President Donald Trump, whom he greatly admires and considers an ally, De la Espriella said he does not accept irregular migration.
He said Colombians must come first, then Colombians, and then Colombians again, so that everyone understands the message.
He said migrants must be deported, describing it as a presidential executive decree that must be implemented starting this week, and said he does not accept illegal migrants, regardless of where they came from.
He added that it was both a political and an administrative decision, and that he was making it.
Colombia has been the stage for a civil armed conflict lasting more than six decades and does not have a tradition of receiving migrants. It has historically been a country people left because of poverty and violence, migrating especially to the United States and Spain.
