Colombian president orders immigration raids, vows deportations of migrants without legal status

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)

A mental health advocate suspected of killing her police officer husband was found dead Monday, six days after she disappeared from her Massachusetts home, authorities said.

Karen Solomon, an advocate who called for improvements and greater awareness of police mental health issues, had disappeared after Worcester Police Officer Kurt Solomon was found dead at their home just before 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 18. Officials had named Karen Solomon a suspect and said she was believed to be armed.

“We believe this case is a tragic murder-suicide that occurred,” Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier said at a news conference Monday.

Two people who worked at Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital reported finding human remains nearby, and officers recovered a woman’s corpse, Saucier said. A final ID was still pending, but authorities said they were confident it was Karen Solomon.

A handgun found near her body was not a Worcester police service weapon, and investigators were working to determine who owned it.

On Aug. 19, authorities released doorbell camera footage of Karen Solomon walking down a street in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, just minutes after officers responded to the couple’s home and found her husband’s body.

Kurt Solomon, who had served 31 years with the police department, was mortally injured with a sharp object, authorities have said.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said Karen Solomon had been at the house on the morning of her husband's death, and investigators were looking to question her. An arrest warrant issued over the weekend charged her with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Police handed out flyers with her photo to drivers in the area. An intensive law enforcement search that included local, state and federal agencies centered on the area near the couple's Worcester home and a reservoir about a mile (1.6 kilometers) away. Authorities had deployed drones, boats and tracking dogs.

Karen Solomon, 58, co-founded the group First H.E.L.P., which advocates for the mental health of police officers. She also wrote two books — “Hearts Beneath the Badge” and “The Price They Pay” — about the physical and psychological experiences of first responders.

In a 2020 interview on the “Dr. Phil” show with Phil McGraw, she said police departments often offered little help to the families of officers who took their own lives.

In a statement read by Saucier during Monday's news conference, the Solomon family thanked law enforcement for helping them find some answers.

“The nightmare of the past week has left our family heartbroken and rudderless," the family said. “The compassion, dedication and empathy of all agencies involved have given us light in face of darkness.”

A wake for Kurt Solomon was scheduled for Tuesday, and his funeral for Wednesday, the police chief said. The local police union president, Thomas Duffy, described him as “a tremendous human being” who was like family.

This screen grab made from video provided by WCVB-TV shows a police officer standing guard over a home in Worcester, Mass., Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (WCVB-TV via AP)