‘They Laughed in Our Faces’: Colombian Migrants Expose U.S. Detention Conditions Before Being Deported 

More than 200 Colombian migrants landed in Bogotá on Tuesday, deported from the United States after a diplomatic dispute between the two nations. President Gustavo Petro initially refused to accept the flights, citing human rights concerns over the conditions in which migrants were being transported. His government later relented, but the delay exposed what many of the returnees describe as degrading treatment by U.S. immigration authorities. 

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José Erick, one of the deportees, described the experience as dehumanizing. “They didn’t tell us anything. The conditions were horrible. They put us in handcuffs, grabbed us like prisoners, and treated us terribly,” he said after arriving as reported by El Colombiano. “They didn’t let us call home, they didn’t let us call our families.” Held in detention, he spent days in the same clothes without access to showers.  

No Due Process for These Colombian Migrants Was Granted

Asylum, a fundamental human right recognized under international law, was never an option. “They didn’t even listen to me,” Erick said. The right to seek asylum is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, to which the U.S. is a signatory, as well as in the Refugee Act. It guarantees that those fleeing persecution have the right to present their case. For many migrants, however, this right is systematically denied. José Erick, for instance, carried documents for his asylum claim, but officials dismissed them without review. Before being put on the flight, he was handed a plastic bag with a few papers — everything else was taken. 

The worst conditions, he said, were in California, where detainees were stripped of their belongings without explanation. “They took our shoelaces, our clothes. I don’t understand why. It wasn’t something they had to do.” When the Colombian government initially refused to accept the flights, the deportees were sent back to El Paso. “That’s when things got a little better, but they still laughed in our faces.” 

Detainees with medical conditions received no special treatment. “Some people had their canes taken away. A woman with heart problems was forced onto the flight without consent. She had an attack, and we had to stop in Houston so they could check on her.” 

Deportees Claim It Was ‘Inhumane’

The language of U.S. politics was used against them. Unfortunately, many have labeled deportees as “drug traffickers and murderers” in the past and it was repeated to these Colombian migrants.  

“They want to blame migrants for their problems, knowing we can’t defend ourselves. They didn’t give us any rights or read us anything. They forced us to sign documents. It was inhumane.” 

The United States, once seen as a refuge for those seeking safety, has increasingly restricted access to asylum. Policies like Title 42 and expedited removals have stripped migrants of due process, sending thousands back to countries where they face violence, poverty, and political persecution.  

Colombia is not the only country dealing with mass deportations under these conditions. In recent weeks, deportation flights to Brazil have led to similar accounts of mistreatment. Now, the people caught in the middle of deportation return home with little more than a plastic bag and the memory of how they were sent away.