Colombian government asks to repatriate its nationals deported to El Salvador

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Saturday called on his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, to hand over Colombians imprisoned in El Salvador under the court order that suspended deportations from the United States to that country.

The U.S. Supreme Court ordered to temporarily halt the deportations of migrants allegedly linked to Venezuelan gangs from Texas to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

"Turn over to us the Colombians you have in your jails. Let the Venezuelan people go free," the leftist wrote on X.

The president repeated that treating migrants as criminals is a "fascist" idea.

The U.S. government filed a motion against the court ruling on Saturday to resume deportations and fulfill its campaign promise to expel millions of undocumented migrants from the United States.

The CECOT prison in El Salvador, where several Venezuelans and at least one Colombian-Venezuelan have already been transferred, is the largest in Latin America, with a capacity of 40,000 inmates. It has been subject to complaints of overcrowding, poor conditions and visit restrictions.