Colombia agrees to Trump's terms on deporting migrants: White House

Washington: The White House on Sunday said that ‘America is respected again’ because Colombia agreed to accept repatriated citizens on military flights after President Trump threatened sanctions, News agency AFP reported.

Earlier Columbia reportedly refused to accept military aircraft carrying migrants to be deported to the country as part of Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown.

However, the White House claimed that the Latin American country backed down from its position thus agreeing to the US demand. Colombia has not yet confirmed the US claims.

A statement by the White House said that Colombia has agreed to ‘unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay.’

The statement further added that ‘Today's events make clear to the world that America is respected again.’

When Trump threatened huge tariffs and sanction on Colombia, the Latin American country’s leftist President Gustavo Petro reciprocated with a threat to raise a 50% tariff on U.S. goods, before later announcing slashed 25%, tariffs on U.S. imports, according to Reuters.

The statement by the White House said: ‘President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation's sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.’

Colombian President Gustavo Petro earlier was ready to take back migrants but ‘with dignity’ on civilian planes, refusing to accept Trump’s demand of deporting them on military planes.