Red Clamor denounces the risks of deportations and calls to protect the rights of irregular migrants in Colombia

Through a statement, the Latin American and Caribbean Ecclesial Network on Migration, Displacement, Refuge, and Human Trafficking (Red Clamor) expressed its concern over the tightening of immigration measures announced in Colombia to identify and deport foreigners in irregular situations.

The statement comes after the Government announced joint operations between Migration Colombia and the Police to identify foreign individuals without regular immigration status and advance in their deportation.

Ecclesial organizations warn that the tightening of controls may worsen the situation of those already facing conditions of special vulnerability. In the statement, they maintain that these policies “have not stopped migration; they have made it more dangerous” and alert about their effects on the dignity of individuals.

Additionally, it warns about the narratives that present migrants as a threat to security. The statement points out that the narratives “anti-immigrant, of criminalization, and of aporophobia” they favor responses that leave the dignity and rights of those in mobility in the background.

The ecclesial organization requests that migration control does not end up undermining rights or affecting family unity. It denounces the separation of families, deportations without support networks, and the transfer of people to third countries where they have no ties or minimum conditions for integration.

Organizations argue that no person should be left unprotected for not having a regularized migration status. “Our work cannot and should not replace the responsibility of States”, states the document, which demands guaranteeing the life and dignity of every migrant person.

Among its main calls, the Clamor Network demands that migration procedures respect the right to asylum and due process, and that returns are carried out safely and with dignity. At the same time, it proposes expanding regular mobility pathways and moving towards a shared regional response.

The Clamor Network also draws attention to the priorities of public spending in migration matters. It warns that while resources allocated to control and containment increase, those directed to humanitarian assistance, the protection and integration of migrants and refugees are reduced.

In its statement, organizations request that migrants stop being merely recipients of policies and participate in their construction. The statement also suggests that any substantive response must address factors such as inequality, violence, and other causes that lead to forced migration.

The declaration demands responses that go to the roots of forced migration and confront inequality, violence, geopolitical dynamics, and the effects of climate change. “We are not talking about numbers, but about human lives, where every person matters, every story counts, and every life is sacred,” states the document, which concludes with a call to “build bridges and tear down walls” and to embrace human dignity as the core of migration governance.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT red clamor.pdf