Bogota, Colombia – Colombian President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella and allies in the U.S. government agree that Colombia will be safe under his leadership and that Colombians will not have to seek asylum in the United States.
The president-elect has reportedly agreed to work with Washington to extradite thousands of Colombians actively seeking asylum in the United States.
But experts and immigrant advocates say the promise to repatriate Colombian asylum seekers is oversimplified.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno met with de la Espriella shortly after he narrowly won the June election and promised to radically shift Espriella to the political right and fight rising armed conflict and violence.
Moreno, who was born in Colombia but grew up in the United States, took to social media after the meeting to tout de la Espriella’s promise that “all Colombian citizens claiming asylum must return to Colombia and we will guarantee their safety and security.”
“To be clear, the United States welcomes immigrants who arrive legally, do not make bogus asylum claims, are thoroughly screened, learn our language, assimilate, and do not undermine our foreign policy,” Moreno wrote. “Coming to America is a privilege, not a right.”
Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst at the Florida Immigration Coalition, an NGO affiliate, argued that de la Espriella’s promise was to curry favor with the Trump administration and that politicians like Moreno went along with it.
“I think it’s outrageous and irresponsible,” Kennedy said. “There is no way a single president with a divided government, with no clear authority in the legislature and not even close to that authority in terms of winning (vote) numbers, can claim that authority.”
No one, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who strongly supported de la Espriella, has the unilateral authority to decide that Colombians should return to Colombia.
“We can only make decisions based on a case-by-case analysis,” said Jeremiah Johnson, one of the U.S. immigration court judges fired by the Trump administration. “We can only make decisions based on the evidence in the case.”
With more than 235,000 Colombians seeking asylum starting in 2021, this process will likely take years.
Alex Kristallis, an asylum lawyer with the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant in California, said blanket statements that Colombia would be safe “could be a scare tactic.”
“There’s a lot of information going around, so I would caution you to slow down and be specific and strengthen your case,” Kristallis said.
Asylum status is different from the broader temporary protection status previously granted to people from countries such as Haiti or Venezuela.
Colombians and people from all countries have the right to seek asylum in the United States within one year of arrival if they are persecuted for five reasons: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The United States granted asylum to 1,017 Colombians in fiscal year 2024, the most recent figure for which government data is available.
Colombians’ right to seek asylum cannot be revoked overnight, but if de la Espriella reduces the influence of armed groups and conflict in Colombia, as he has promised, it could make it more difficult to win asylum cases. If that happens, immigration judges or asylum officers may be more receptive to claims that Colombian asylum seekers can safely return to their home country.
Nonetheless, Johnson said, “It has to be individualized to the individual.”
“The president says it is safe on site, but what does that mean for the village where people were injured?” Johnson asked. “As a judge, I cannot make decisions based on public records or statements made by politicians.”
But U.S. immigration courts are not immune from political influence, especially under President Donald Trump. Unlike criminal and civil courts, immigration courts are part of the Department of Justice, which is part of the executive branch.
The Trump administration has sought to tightly control immigration courts, including purging judges with high asylum grant rates and expanding the use of expedited removal proceedings to expedite deportations.
Many asylum seekers in the United States wait years for a decision on their cases. Washington’s attitude toward Colombia could also affect people recently granted asylum, who must wait at least a year before applying for permanent residency. If your circumstances in your home country are deemed to have changed during that time, your asylum status may be revoked.
Most of the Colombian clients Kristallis works with are LGBT asylum seekers. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Colombia since 2016, but this does not guarantee protection from discrimination.
As several governments in Latin America shift to the political right and become more aligned with President Donald Trump and the United States, the practical effect for asylum seekers is that immigration officials may ask harder questions, Cristalis said.
For example, Nayib Bukele, a close Trump ally and leader of El Salvador, has reportedly overseen a significant decline in violent crime in El Salvador. According to Kristallis, El Salvador clients will face questions that others do not, such as why it is unsafe to return to El Salvador based on the assumption that “it will be safer because of the promise that it will be safer.”
“This is why I pay attention,” Kristallis said. “Whatever their claims, they may have to be prepared to answer more questions related to ‘Abelardo says all Colombian asylum seekers will be fully welcome back in your country’.”
A few days after de la Espriella was elected president, several of Kristallis’ clients called to ask what it meant for their case. His answer was that he didn’t know at the moment.
Kennedy pointed to Colombia’s complex history of conflict and internal strife and said he believed people would “at least have a fair opportunity to claim safety” in the U.S. asylum system.
“I think it’s an insult to the Colombians he represents both at home and abroad,” Kennedy said of de la Espriella’s pledge.
Featured image caption: Split image of US President Donald Trump (left) and Abelardo de la Espriella (right).
Featured image credit: @POTUS and @ABDELAESPRIELLA via X
