Colombia Deportation Targets Irregular Migrants in Medellín

Quick answer: President Abelardo de la Espriella has ordered Colombia’s deportation crackdown on irregular migrants to begin the week of August 24, 2026, directing Migración Colombia and police to run coordinated operations starting in Barranquilla as a pilot city, ahead of a signaled national rollout (El Colombiano). Priority goes first to foreigners committing crimes and second to anyone without regularized migratory status, regardless of nationality — directly relevant to Medellín, where Migración Colombia’s April 18, 2026 tally already counted 16 deportation cases in Antioquia among 157 nationwide (Migración Colombia).

What De la Espriella ordered

In a security-council session held in Barranquilla on Sunday, August 23, 2026, De la Espriella instructed Migración Colombia and the National Police to run coordinated operations the week of August 24, 2026 to identify and detain foreigners in irregular status, according to footage of the meeting that circulated publicly (El Colombiano; Telemedellín). El Colombiano identifies Barranquilla as the pilot city — a “punto de prueba” for the strategy before any wider rollout, not a nationwide operation from day one — and notes that irregular migratory status alone does not amount to committing a crime. His stated order of priority: first, foreigners involved in criminal activity; second, anyone without regularized migratory status, regardless of nationality — “Aquí no voy a aceptar migración ilegal,” and “Primero los colombianos, segundo los colombianos y tercero los colombianos.”

De la Espriella took office on August 7, 2026, on a hardline security platform that was largely paused in his first two weeks by the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that had killed 329 people and injured 4,600, per disaster agency UNGRD’s August 22, 2026 update, and triggered a national disaster declaration (El Colombiano). These operations mark the immigration-enforcement piece of that platform moving forward, alongside the urban security blocks (bloques de seguridad urbana) that stood up the same week he was inaugurated. We covered what his election meant for expat visas, taxes, and safety in our rundown of his inauguration.

Colombia deportation numbers behind the order

Migración Colombia’s own tally, published April 18, 2026, put deportations and expulsions combined at 310 cases so far in 2026, of which 157 were deportations — mostly tied to irregularities in a foreigner’s entry, exit, or stay in the country (Migración Colombia). The regions with the most deportation cases: Nariño (51), the Oriente region (24), Atlántico (19), the Eje Cafetero (17), Antioquia (16), and the Andina region (14) (Migración Colombia).

A separate, longer-run figure gets cited alongside this week’s news: Migración Colombia reports 6,465 administrative sanctions — 3,389 deportations and 2,576 expulsions — applied to foreigners between August 2022 and June 30, 2026, spanning nearly four years under the prior government, not 2026 alone (Presidencia de la República; Occidente.co). Read the 157 and the 6,465 as two different clocks — one this year, one nearly four years — not a single count.

Deportación, expulsión, and inadmisión aren’t the same thing

Colombian immigration law treats these as three distinct actions:

• Inadmisión — turns someone away at the border before they formally enter the country; the law attaches no automatic re-entry ban (Ley 2136 de 2021, Art. 7).
• Deportación — applies to someone already inside Colombia in irregular status; can carry a re-entry ban of six months to ten years, with the process open to review (LaFM).
• Expulsión — reserved for more serious cases, typically tied to a criminal conviction or national-security grounds; carries a minimum five-year ban with no right of appeal, plus a visa requirement for any future entry (LaFM).

These operations target people already in the country, so it’s the deportación and expulsión tracks that apply — not the airport inadmisión screening we’ve covered separately this year.

What counts as “irregular status” — and what it costs

For most expats, irregular status means one of two things: overstaying the tourist permit — an initial 90 days, extendable through a single prórroga to a combined 180 days per calendar year, per Migración Colombia’s own extension rules (Migración Colombia) — or remaining in the country after a visa or cédula de extranjería has expired or lapsed. Resolución 2357 de 2020, as amended by Resolución 3770 de 2021’s recalculation of sanction values, classifies unregularized permanence as a light infraction and sets its fine at 26.31 to 210.50 UVT, scaled by severity, recidivism, and how long the overstay ran (Resolución 2357 de 2020; Resolución 3770 de 2021, SUIN-Juriscol; Tannus & Asociados’ summary of the sanction regime). At the DIAN’s 2026 UVT value of COP 52,374 — set by Resolución 000238 of December 15, 2025 (DIAN) — that range works out to roughly COP 1.4 million to COP 11 million as of August 2026, before any deportation order is even on the table.

What this means if you’re in Medellín

If your tourist stamp, visa, or cédula is current, this week’s operations don’t change anything for you. If it isn’t — even by a few weeks — your exposure depends on where this goes next: the operations are running in Barranquilla first, but De la Espriella has signaled a national rollout and has explicitly told Migración Colombia and police to prioritize finding people in your situation once that reaches other cities, not just wait for a routine renewal visit or an unrelated police stop to surface it. The fastest fix doesn’t wait for that rollout to reach Medellín: file a prórroga (extension) or begin a visa renewal before the current permission lapses, through Migración Colombia’s official portal, rather than after. Filing before you’re located keeps you on the regularization track rather than the sanctions one — a materially different process than the deportación path described above, and the one Migración Colombia’s own prórroga procedure exists for.

We’ll update this post as Migración Colombia publishes operation-specific totals for August 2026.

FAQ: Colombia’s deportation operations

Can I be deported for overstaying a tourist stamp in Colombia?

Yes. Overstaying is treated as irregular permanence under Resolución 2357 de 2020 (as amended by Resolución 3770 de 2021), which carries a fine of roughly 26 to 210 UVT — about COP 1.4 million to COP 11 million at the 2026 UVT, as of August 2026. If you’re located in an enforcement operative like the one De la Espriella ordered starting August 24, 2026, that can escalate to a deportation order with a re-entry ban of six months to ten years.

What’s the difference between deportación and expulsión in Colombia?

Deportación applies to irregular status — an expired tourist stamp, visa, or cédula — and carries a re-entry ban of six months to ten years that can be reviewed. Expulsión is reserved for criminal or national-security cases, carries a minimum five-year ban with no right of appeal, and requires a visa for any future entry.

How do I fix my status before Migración Colombia finds me?

File a prórroga (extension) or start a visa renewal through Migración Colombia’s official portal before your current permission lapses. That keeps you on the regularization track rather than the sanctions one that applies once you’re found irregular in an operative.

Sources: El Colombiano — Barranquilla operations order, Telemedellín, El Colombiano — earthquake toll, Aug. 22 update, Migración Colombia — prórroga, Migración Colombia — 2026 deportations/expulsions, Ley 2136 de 2021, Art. 7, Resolución 2357 de 2020, Resolución 3770 de 2021, SUIN-Juriscol, Tannus & Asociados — sanction regime, DIAN Resolución 000238, LaFM.