200 deported Colombians included pregnant women and children — but no criminals

We’ve never been in jail; we’ve never committed any crimes. What we want is to enter (the US) to create a better future for our family,

Veliz said

The destination is wherever we can work.”

Asked if their final destination of the US was off the table, Fortín replied

We’re going to just work and try to provide for our kids,

Niño said when asked what she planned to do upon returning to Colombia

A lot of people now, they are scared, they are very scared of the situation,

he said

We didn’t do anything wrong: I’m not a criminal,

Andrei Barrientos told CNN after getting off a Colombia-bound deportation flight

A migrant is not a criminal and should be treated with the dignity a human being deserves,

he said Sunday

Luis Gilberto Murilloforeign Minister

Everyone is in good condition,

Murillo said in Spanish in a video statement Tuesday

We were shackled from our feet, our ankles to our hips, like criminals."

José Montaña, a migrant from Medellín, recalled the shackling ... He also

Gustavo Petrocolombian President

Migrants are not criminals. They are human beings who want to work and get ahead in life."

President Gustavo Petro

We didn’t do anything wrong: I’m not a criminal. Yes, I crossed the border illegally, but I was doing that to help my family … and they treated me like I was a gangster,

he told CNN

A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity every human being is worthy of … I can’t have the migrants stay in a country that doesn’t want them; but if this country sends them away it must be with dignity and respect towards them and towards our country. We will welcome back our fellow countrymen on civilian planes, without a criminal’s treatment,

the Colombian president posted on Sunday morning

It was very confusing: Nobody told us anything. US Customs and Border (Protection) took us from our cells in San Diego and put us on a C-130, with seats and all of that. They told us the flight to Bogota was going to be seven hours, but when we landed, it was 10 hours, and as soon as the back door for the plane opened, we could see an ambulance saying ‘Houston,’

Oquendo said

I learnt all of this today, when I landed in Bogota and it was full of journalists asking me what had happened … What did I know? In the CBP centers, there are televisions, but they don’t allow news channels, it’s all sports and old movies, and of course we didn’t have a phone. Only now I’m realizing what happened there,

Barrientos told CNN

The CBP, they mostly spoke Spanish, they handcuffed us and pushed around as if we were in jail. I understand the military has some procedures, but there were children, families,

said Oquendo, who crossed in Tijuana and was apprehended in San Diego

I don’t want to try a third time,

he told CNN, saying

My whole family chipped in to help me, I can’t let them down,

he told CNN

They are Colombians, they are free and dignified and they are in their homeland where they are loved. The migrant is not a criminal, he is a human being who wants to work and progress,

Petro posted on the social platform X, along with photos of the Colombian nationals walking out of planes

This provision: dignity for deportees, will be applied to all countries that send deportations to us."

Petro, ... adding:

Don' ... t go [to the US] because they're deporting everyone..,

a mother carrying her baby said outside the plane provided by the Colombian government to bring the migrants back to their homeland

I don't like your oil, Trump, ... You're going to wipe out the human species because of greed.

he said, adding