Colombia surrenders to Trump’s demands
Colombia has bowed to pressure from Washington and reversed its decision to bar US flights carrying deported illegal migrants from landing in the country.
On Sunday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that he will turn away American military aircraft full of deportees unless the US sets up “a protocol for the dignified treatment of migrants.” US President Donald Trump quickly reacted by promising to impose tariffs on Colombian goods and visa restrictions on Colombian officials.
Bogota announced later on Sunday that Petro’s presidential plane would be sent to pick up Colombian nationals slated for deportation. “The government of Colombia, under the direction of President Gustavo Petro, has arranged for the presidential plane to facilitate the dignified return of Colombia nationals who were to arrive in the country today in the morning hours, coming in from deportation flights,” Petro’s office said in a statement.
“Colombians, as patriots and subjects of rights, were not and will not be banished from Colombian territory,” the statement said.
In a lengthy post on X on Monday, Petro condemned the coercion from Washington. “You can use your economic power and arrogance to attempt to stage a coup d’etat, like you did with Allende,” the president wrote, referring to the CIA-orchestrated 1973 military coup in Chile, which led to the murder of democratically elected President Salvador Allende and the imposition of the US-backed dictator Augusto Pinochet.
“But I will die standing by my principles. I’ve endured torture, and I will endure you,” Petro warned. “You will never dominate us.” He promised to impose tariffs on American goods in response to economic restrictions from the US.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt released a statement later on Monday saying that Colombia “has agreed to all of President Trump’s demands, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on US military aircraft, without limitation or delay.”
Leavitt added that the drafted tariffs “will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement.” Visa restrictions and enhanced border and customs checks will stay in place “until the first planeload of Colombia deportees is successfully returned,” she said.
Trump, who was sworn in on January 20, made the fight against illegal immigration one of the key issues of his election campaign. Shortly after taking office, he declared an emergency at the border and deployed additional active-duty soldiers to assist border agents. He also vowed to ramp up deportations.
I suspect that USA will load the Presidential plane with at least a few members of Tren de Aragua. We will see how much dignity they are treated with and how they respond.
Feds round up 50 Tren de Aragua members at ‘makeshift nightclub’ in Denver as nationwide ICE raids bust child rapists and suspected ISIS terrorists
Federal agents rounded up dozens of members of Tren de Aragua in an overnight raid on a “makeshift nightclub” in Denver after the vicious Venezuelan prison gang terrorized the city and the suburb of Aurora.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said agents in Colorado interrupted an “invite-only party” where dozens of the gangbangers were cutting loose in Adams County, just outside Denver city limits.
The busts netted cash, weapons, guns and drugs — including Tusi or “pink cocaine,” a powerful narcotic that the gang has played a major role in distributing across the US.
Video released by the DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division showed a white bus full of the busted gang members being escorted on the snowy roads by law enforcement vehicles.
The arrests ensnared around 50 Tren de Aragua members in all, marking the latest in the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds who pose a potential threat to public safety.
“We want the country to know that we will all support the president’s priority to round up the most dangerous illegal criminals,” DEA acting administrator Derek Maltz told The Post.
Both President Trump and border czar Tom Homan have pledged to find, arrest and ultimately deport millions of migrants who have sneaked into the country illegally.
“The president and the DOJ leaders have made it clear that we are going to work together with a sense of urgency to hold violent criminals accountable,” Maltz said.
“The citizens of this country must feel safe every day throughout the country. One of my goals is to help build an army of good to fight evil.”
The first migrant roundups — part of an operation dubbed “Return to Sender” — are focusing on migrants who have been charged with crimes or have been ordered deported by a judge.
The DEA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led Sunday’s pre-dawn efforts in Colorado, and they were joined by squads from Homeland Security Investigations and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations to execute the busts.
The Post has been at the forefront of reporting how Tren de Aragua terrorized the Denver suburb of Aurora — a city with a population of just under 400,000 — for months, even taking over entire neighborhoods and apartment complexes.
The busts happened just a few miles northwest of Aurora.
Similar enforcement operations have taken place around the country in recent days, rounding up some 600 illegal immigrants in sanctuary cities from coast to coast including New York state, according to ICE.
ICE New York agents took several migrant criminals into custody, including Gokhan Adriguzel, a 30-year-old Turkish national who is a “known or suspected terrorist,” according to a release from the agency.
On Saturday in West New York, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, officers stormed an apartment building near 61st Street and Harrison Place around 7:30 a.m., with surveillance footage showing them peeking at mailboxes and then heading upstairs, ABC News reported.
It was not immediately clear if any arrests were made, but ICE told the outlet it doesn’t comment on ongoing enforcement actions.
Separately, agents were seen handcuffing an unidentified Hispanic man and putting him in a van without asking questions, Hudson Post reported.
That same day, the offensive continued in Los Angeles, with pre-dawn roundups expected to run seven days a week for the foreseeable future, sources told The Post.
It was not clear how many illegal immigrants were arrested in the LA raids, but sources said the migrants who were taken into custody were being held in ICE detention centers in California pending deportation.
The Chicago DEA this weekend shared images of agents huddling with its partners at ICE and the Department of Justice, the agency later posting on X that it was “conducting targeted operations” in the Windy City.
“US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the US Marshals Service, began conducting targeted operations today in Chicago to enforce US immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities,” the statement read.
In social media posts on Sunday, the White House touted the arrests taking place around the country, which it said included criminals ranging from “child rapists to suspected ISIS terrorists.”
The “worst” men arrested, per the White House, include Edgar De La Cruz-Manzo, a Mexican national convicted of raping a child. He was arrested by ICE Seattle on Jan. 25.
ICE Seattle also nabbed Kevin Adith Torres-Velasquez, a Honduran national who was in possession of cocaine, fentanyl and a firearm when he was cuffed Jan. 24.
In western New York, a Jordanian with suspected ties to ISIS was busted by ICE Buffalo/Rouses Point on Jan. 24.
Also arrested was an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador, who was wanted for aggravated homicide and slapped with an Interpol Red Notice. He was taken into custody by ICE Los Angeles on Jan. 24
ICE Los Angeles also took into custody that day an unnamed Mexican man wanted for murder, also with a Red Notice.
Yared Geremew Mekonnen, a convicted sex offender and Ethiopian national, was arrested by ICE New Orleans.
In Georgia, Honduran national Osman Antonio Abelar Rubio, who was convicted for DWI and has pending charges for assault and firearm offenses, was taken into custody by ICE Atlanta on Jan. 25.
ICE Boston busted Vitor De Sousa-Lima, a Brazilian man convicted of vehicular manslaughter, on Jan. 25.
The final arrest highlighted by the White House was of Jaime Arroyo-Rivera, a Mexican convicted of three counts of aggravated DUI. He was arrested by ICE Phoenix on Jan. 24.
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US spent $50 million on condoms for Gaza
White House
President Donald Trump’s push for government efficiency has already discovered wasteful spending such as $50 million allocated to purchase condoms for residents of Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her first briefing.
Trump established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a temporary outfit shortly after being sworn in last week. The body is headed by tech mogul and major Trump supporter Elon Musk.
DOGE and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza,” Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday, accusing former President Joe Biden’s administration of “a preposterous waste of taxpayer money.”
Did Joe have a friend or a family member who was selling condoms?
Another $37 million was earmarked for the World Health Organization [WHO], which “President Trump, with the swipe of his pen and that executive order, no longer wants the US to be a part of,” Leavitt added.
On Friday, the US State Department ordered a freeze on almost all foreign aid programs for 90 days, pending review to determine whether they line up with the Trump administration’s foreign policy objectives. USAID has already informed NGOs around the world that it was suspending funding until further notice.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs Andrew Miller told the Times of Israel that Leavitt’s claim was “outlandish.”
“It’s possible that $50 million is for sexual health or something like that, which includes gynecology and many other services, but certainly not just condoms,” Miller said.
CNN has also challenged Karoline Leavitt’s statement, arguing that no evidence has been provided by the White House to support the claim, and that USAID records show no funding for condoms being allocated to the Middle East in the previous three fiscal years.
According to AFP, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) allocated $60 million in fiscal year 2023 for a variety of contraceptive devices to be sent around the world, not just to Gaza. There are around two million residents in the Palestinian enclave, which has been devastated by a 15-month war with Israel.
During the 2018 tensions with Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli military accused the Palestinian militants of using balloons made from latex condoms to send incendiary and explosive devices across the border. The improvised devices triggered “hundreds” of wildfires, according to the Times of Israel.
At the time, The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was baffled as to where the condoms might be coming from, as they were not produced locally. The WHO had denied supplying Gaza with the contraceptives.
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