Colombia’s new president Abelardo de la Espriella announces immigration crackdown
Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to ‘track down illegal immigrants’ should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermath Colombia’s far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes. In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes. He echoed the “Americans first” rhetoric of his ally, US president Donald Trump , saying that from now on it would be “Colombians first, Colombians second and Colombians third”. The Colombian president has joined other Trump-aligned leaders in the region who have also tightened migration rules, including Argentina’s Javier Milei and Chile’s José Antonio Kast.