Colombia’s new tactic for ousting Venezuelan migrants has precedents in U.S., Dean Johnson tells the AP

Colombia’s new tactic of arresting migrants for minor infractions to prompt their returns to Venezuela has precedents in U.S. immigration policy, Dean Kevin R. Johnson told the Associated Press.

Thousands of people are arrested each year in the United States and, facing the prospect of deportation, instead choose “voluntary departure” back to their home countries, Johnson said.

“In a lot of countries, you see programs and policies like what is apparently going on in Colombia because there is a fear of mass migration,” Johnson said.

Venezuelans, facing severe food shortages and economic devastation in their country, have flooded into neighboring Colombia. Authorities in Colombia have responded by tightening checks for undocumented immigrants, arresting Venezuelan street vendors and others who are in Colombia without proper documentation and characterizing their returns to Venezuela as “voluntary,” since they were not officially deported.

Johnson told the AP that this practice’s legality depends on whether the Venezuelans involved are refugees fearing persecution.

“There usually should be some avenue for people who fear prosecution to apply for relief and be able to resist pressures to depart voluntarily,” he said.

Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.