BOGOTA/WASHINGTON—Colombia’s migration agency has temporarily suspended a program to return Colombian nationals found by immigration officers at the U.S. border with Mexico, it said on Thursday, citing cruel and degrading treatment and last-minute flight cancellations.
The number of Colombians trying to migrate north to the United States has soared in recent years, with more than 125,000 apprehended at the United States’ southern border in 2022, according U.S Customs and Borders Protection (CBP), up from around 6,200 in 2021.
Colombia expected to receive some 1,200 migrants in flights programmed to arrive from the United States during the first week of May, the migration agency said in a statement. The pilot plan called “mom returns” looked to send mostly women, children, and adolescents back to Colombia….