The speaker also discussed the president’s proposal to tie California’s wildfire aid with voter ID rule, recent firings of inspectors generals, and FEMA review.
DORAL, Fla.—At a key House GOP conference, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) suggested that other countries might do well to follow Colombia’s example of sending their presidential planes to pick up illegal aliens detained in the United States.
“We were happy to send them back,” Johnson told reporters on Jan. 27 at the Trump National Doral Miami, where House Republicans are meeting to discuss a reconciliation package along with other priorities.
The speaker’s message followed a brief but intense exchange between the government of Colombia and the United States over the return of Colombian deportees the United States sought to fly back to their home country.
After Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Colombia had suspended an authorization for a deportation flight, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X that he “never refused to accept migrants,” separately complaining of the mistreatment of illegal aliens being repatriated by the United States.
“In civilian planes, without being treated like criminals, we will receive our fellow citizens,” Petro said.
President Donald Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs and sanctions on Colombia unless the country agreed to accept the deportee flights, sparking talk of retaliatory tariffs from Colombia’s president.
Later that day, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a White House statement indicating that Colombia had complied with American demands, adding that proposed tariffs and sanctions “will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement.”
“Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again,” she said.
Colombian Foreign Minister Gilberto Murillo confirmed that an agreement had been reached, stating that his country’s presidential plane is “ready to facilitate the return of Colombians who were going to arrive in the country this morning on deportation flights.”
Johnson, key to a Republican trifecta, characterized the interaction between the two countries’ leaders as a clear example of U.S. success.
“When the president engaged with the president of Colombia about the situation there, Colombia did an about-face,” he said.
Johnson said the Congress would continue to stand by the president on illegal immigration, delivering a message to countries now tasked with accepting their citizens who were unlawfully present in the United States and are being repatriated.
