Colombia to send presidential plane to Honduras to pick up migrants from US flights

Colombia will send its presidential plane to Honduras to pick up Colombians after the country refused to accept migrant deportation flights from the United States, causing President Trump to enact tariffs and other retaliatory measures on Sunday.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has arranged for the presidential plane to facilitate the "dignified return of Colombian nationals who were to arrive in the country today in the morning hours, coming in from deportation flights," read a statement released on Sunday.

"This measure is in response to the government's commitment to guarantee dignified conditions. In no way have Colombians, as patriots and subjects of rights, been or will be banished from Colombian territory," the statement continued.

Earlier Sunday, President Trump slapped Colombia with 25 percent tariffs on all goods coming into the U.S., and he issued a travel ban and immediate visa revocations on "Government Officials, and all Allies and Supporters," among other measures, after the South American country rejected two planes carrying migrants.

Petro hit Trump back by ordering an increase of import tariffs on goods from the United States by 25 percent.

"American products whose price will rise within the national economy must be replaced by national production, and the government will help in this regard," Petro said in a Sunday afternoon post.

Petro previously said he will deny entry to the United States’s deportation flights as Trump’s immigration plan begins.

“The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals,” Petro posted Sunday to the social platform X. “I deny the entry of American planes carrying Colombian migrants into our territory.”

Updated at 6:27 pm EST.

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