As he promised during the campaign, the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, insisted this Sunday, in his first interview after winning the elections, that from hour zero of his arrival at the White House he will intensify immigration policies.
(Read: Negotiation of the minimum started with few aspirations for agreement: this is the outlook).
Among the big changes that his immigration policy would have is trying, from day one of his presidency, end the right to citizenship by birthalthough to do so would have to change one of the amendments to the Constitution.
The magnate has stated that during his first term in the White House (2017-2021) he wanted to end birthright citizenship through an executive order, but the arrival of the pandemic modified his plans.
These changes, in addition to the possible operations to mass deportations, They have nearly a million Colombians in suspense, who live legally or illegally in the United States and who would be at risk of being returned to Colombia.
Because of this, The Colombian embassy in Washington has been working on several fronts.
(Here: Donald Trump insists on criticizing his country’s trade policy).
The implications that a Trump presidency would have in Colombia.
EFE
As EL TIEMPO learned, the Colombian embassy asked the Foreign Ministry for an increase in the budget to be able to expand the Legal Advisory and Social Assistance contracts managed by the consulates so that they can serve the thousands of Colombians who will be affected.
“These are external contracts of lawyers and other firms that dominate the US immigration system and that function as advisors, not only to inform Colombians of their rights, but to guide them on complex issues such as the deportation of a family member. or the legal effects on the property of a deported person”points out EL TIEMPO.
According to the Colombian ambassador in Washington, Daniel García-Peña, “Consular teams are preparing for a possible restrictive immigration policy to strengthen their capacities in legal advice and social assistance. These actions seek to mitigate the uncertainty that publicly known information has generated, and provide effective support, especially to those who are in an irregular immigration situation.” He also highlighted that the commitment is “assist Colombians and guarantee respect for their rights.”
Another front that President Petro’s Government plans to work on is to be proactive in offering itself as a partner in the efforts to stop illegal migration and thus be part of the solution rather than the problem.
Colombia, finally, It is the country that has received the most Venezuelans in recent years who would otherwise be on their way to the United States.
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In fact, one of the central objectives of the Government will be to insist to the new Trump administration that Colombia, by receiving more than 2.5 million Venezuelans and regularizing their situation, ended up being a funnel that stopped the flow of migrants to the north. And at a very high cost, since the country annually invests 1.2 percent of its GDP in caring for the migrant population.
“Colombia and the United States have built a bipartisan strategic alliance, working with Democrats and Republicans who recognize our country as part of the solution and not the problem. Therefore, we consider that the best measure to avoid irregular migration is to continue strengthening bilateral cooperation.”Ambassador García-Peña stressed to EL TIEMPO.
PORTFOLIO
With information from Sergio Gómez Maseri
EL TIEMPO correspondent – Washington
