De la Espriella Orders Crackdown on Irregular Migration in Colombia, with Deportations to Begin This Week

Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered immigration authorities to begin operations this week targeting migrants without legal status, prioritizing those accused of committing crimes, in what could mark a sharp shift from the migration policies pursued by Colombia’s previous governments and potentially affect hundreds of thousands of migrants, most of them Venezuelans.

“I will not accept illegal migration here. Colombians first, Colombians second and Colombians third,” De la Espriella said during an extraordinary security council meeting Sunday, August 23, in Barranquilla.

During the meeting, the president said deportations were “a presidential order that must begin to be carried out this week,” adding that he would not accept any “illegal immigrant, wherever they come from, who is committing crimes. They are leaving, and we will deport them.”

“The order to Migración is clear, and we are calling them now to give it to them: They must begin operations coordinated with the Barranquilla police to locate illegal migrants,” De la Espriella said, referring to Migración Colombia, the government agency responsible for the country’s official immigration procedures.

So far, however, the government has not provided further details about how the operations will be carried out or whether the announcement will become a broader national policy or formal government position.

Providing additional details, De la Espriella said authorities should focus “first, on those who are committing crimes. Second, on those who have not regularized their immigration status,” adding that they “will have to be deported.”

He said the position was consistent with what he advocated during his presidential campaign and described it as both a political and administrative decision.

“I take responsibility for it. I will not accept illegal migration here,” he said.

The position follows statements De la Espriella made during the campaign. “Anyone who migrates to Colombia while respecting the law will be protected and will have every guarantee. Anyone who violates immigration law will be returned to their country without any consideration,” he said in June during an interview with journalist Luis Carlos Vélez.

His remarks are also consistent with his statements over the weekend in Barranquilla and with the positions of right-wing political leaders he has cited as models, including US President Donald Trump and his hardline immigration policies.

Venezuelans could be most affected

Although De la Espriella did not explicitly refer to Venezuelans, his announcement could have a particularly significant impact on the 2.8 million Venezuelans living in Colombia, who account for nearly 90% of the country’s immigrant population.

Of those, 848,000 were in an irregular immigration situation as of January 2026, according to official Migración Colombia figures. About 193,000 of them are children and adolescents.

At the same time, Migración Colombia data show that at least 82% of Venezuelan migrants in the country had regular immigration status as of January. The remaining population has yet to fully formalize its status and includes people in the country under temporary permits who have not been able to access the Estatuto Temporal de Protección para Migrantes Venezolanos (ETPMV), or Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelan Migrants, created under the government of former President Iván Duque.

A sharp shift in Colombia’s migration policy

De la Espriella’s position represents a significant shift from the approach to migration taken by Colombia’s previous governments, including the right-wing Centro Democrático administration of Iván Duque from 2018 to 2022.

In 2021, Duque implemented the ETPMV to provide legal status for up to 10 years to nearly 2 million migrants and help guarantee access to social rights and services, including employment, education and health care.

His successor, leftist President Gustavo Petro, who governed from 2022 to 2026, expanded protections for migrants, both by facilitating the regularization of their status in Colombia and by broadening access to basic rights for adults and minors.

Petro’s government also restored diplomatic relations with Venezuela, the country of origin of the vast majority of migrants living in Colombia.

De la Espriella’s announcement therefore signals a potentially substantial change in Colombia’s approach: from policies centered largely on regularization and integration toward stronger immigration enforcement and deportation. The extent of that shift, however, will depend on how the presidential order is implemented and whether the government turns the measures announced in Barranquilla into a broader national immigration policy.