BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has promised to deport thousands of migrants who are in the country without residence permits, mainly Venezuelans, as he attempts to make significant changes to the nation’s immigration policies that he says will reduce crime.
De la Espriella, who was sworn into office three weeks ago, said that he would order the country’s national immigration service to conduct raids with Colombian police as early as this week. He announced the new policy in a video released on Sunday night in his X account where he spoke of multiple measures to reduce crime and confront criminal groups.
The ultra conservative leader, who is closely aligned with the U.S. President Donald Trump, said that law enforcement will first target migrants who are “committing crimes” and then, those who are living in the country without regular status.
“I will not accept any illegal immigrants, wherever they come from,” de la Espriella said in the video. “They will have to leave and be deported. It is a political decision I am taking responsibility for.”
Most migrants living in Colombia come from neighboring Venezuela, a nation that lost about a fifth of its population over the past decade as Venezuelans fled a repressive regime that oversaw years of economic turmoil, and a 75% contraction in the nation’s GDP.
Around 2.8 million Venezuelans were living in Colombia as of August, according to the United Nations, making it the largest Venezuelan diaspora. In July, Colombia’s national immigration service said that it had granted temporary residence permits to about 2.3 million Venezuelans under a scheme rolled out in 2021 by then President Ivan Duque during the peak of Venezuela’s immigration crisis.
De la Espriella’s effort to deport migrants who have no regular status marks a major shift for Colombia, which had long worked to protect incoming Venezuelans and grant them a pathway towards permanent residency.
Ana Karina García, director of Juntos Se Puede, an organization that helps Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, said that the Colombian government stopped handing out new temporary residency permits three years ago. She said that de la Espriella’s incoming administration should expand pathways to legal residency, instead of punishing people who cannot obtain residency permits.
“We understand that the president wants to protect Colombians,” she said. “But there is no need to protect them from migrants. It has been proven that foreigners do not commit crimes at greater rates” than the local population.
Arles Pereda, the president of an association that represents Venezuelans in Bogota, said the announcement worried him, because new groups of Venezuelans displaced by the twin earthquakes that rocked the country in June have been arriving in Colombia to seek opportunities.
“The doors seem to be closing,” Pereda said. “Not just in Colombia, but also in Chile, Peru and Ecuador,” where conservative leaders have also made it harder for Venezuelan migrants to get residency permits.
Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
FILE - Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella salutes after taking the oath of office in Cali, Colombia, Aug. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — Six people were killed and 16 wounded after a gunman opened fire Saturday afternoon in a busy market square in Krakow, authorities said, in what Poland ’s defense minister called an “act of terror” on the people of the city.
The suspect, a 25-year-old Polish citizen, opened fire with an automatic weapon in the city’s Main Square, a major tourist destination. He was fascinated with far-right ideologies and held “very radical" and “ultra-nationalistic" views, Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said at a news conference.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called Saturday’s fatal shooting an “act of terror” on the people of Krakow, Poland's second-largest city, which receives 15 million visitors a year, most of them passing through the Main Square.
Four women and two men were killed. Two police officers were wounded, one seriously, Kierwiński said. Thirteen of the 16 people injured were brought to the hospital with serious injuries, and one of them was a foreign citizen.
It was not immediately clear how many of the victims had suffered gunshot wounds, though two people had already been released from medical treatment within hours of the attack.
The perpetrator was shot and wounded during a gunfight with officers a short distance away from the initial violence, police said. He was taken to the hospital for surgery.
Katarzyna Cisło, a spokesperson for the Krakow police, said the perpetrator was wearing military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest and used a military-type long gun in the attack. Police found many other weapons, as well as ammunition, in his car. He kept firing at the police even after being shot himself, she said.
The attacker engaged in a “wild ride” around the Main Square, Cisło said, which is why people were wounded at several locations.
Cisło added that the gunman acted alone and that the public is safe.
Krakow mayor Łukasz Gibała said the city will be in official mourning until Wednesday. He vowed that Krakow will remain open to visitors despite the tragedy.
“The square will belong to us again,” Gibała said in a video posted to X.
Videos posted on social media by witnesses show people running away from the square to take cover on small streets nearby, as well as first responders trying to resuscitate victims. In one of the videos, a policeman is seen repeatedly shooting the attacker, who is lying on the street, only to later slowly collapse himself to the ground.
Photos showed a Polish Medical Air Rescue helicopter after it landed in the square.
It was not immediately clear whether the firearm used in Saturday’s attack, or the guns found in the perpetrator’s car, were legal. Around 411,000 people hold gun permits in Poland, which has a population of 37 million, and interest in gun ownership has been rising.
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. However, in mid-October three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in a post on X, praised the police officers who responded to Saturday’s tragedy. Polish President Karol Nawrocki said his thoughts were with the victims, the wounded and their families.
A tram driver reported around 3 p.m. that his vehicle was shot at from a man in a moving car while passing nearby the main square, the Krakow municipal transport company said. The window to the tram driver’s cabin was shattered.
Animal rights group OTOZ Animals said the attacker also shot two horses. Both animals are alive, but one was grazed by a bullet and the other hit in the leg. White carriages drawn by horses are a main tourist attraction in the square.
Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced increased security measures, including road barriers, along main streets in the old town in the Polish capital in the aftermath of the Krakow attack.
The number of people wounded rose from 15 to 16, officials said late on Saturday. Authorities earlier said the gunman was 24 years old, but later corrected his age to 25.
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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland and Dazio reported from Berlin.
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz speaks during a press conference after a shooter opened fire in a market square in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, leaving people dead and injured, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Police cars are parked in a cordoned off area after a shooter opened fire in a market square in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, leaving people dead and injured, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Police privacy screens are installed in a cordoned off area after a shooter opened fire in a market square in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, leaving people dead and injured, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Police privacy screens are installed in a cordoned off area after a shooter opened fire in a market square in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, leaving people dead and injured, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
An armed police officer secures a cordoned off area after a shooter opened fire in a market square in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, leaving people dead and injured, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Armed police officers secure a cordoned off area after a shooter opened fire in a market square in Krakow, Poland, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, leaving people dead and injured, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
