Colombia and the US agree to collect and share biometric data for migrants

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem touted the memorandum as a step towards cracking down on undocumented migration.

The United States and Colombia have signed a memorandum of understanding in Bogota that would pave the way for the two countries to exchange biometric data collected from migrants.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, visiting on Thursday from Washington, DC, framed the agreement as a step towards cracking down on undocumented immigration into both countries.

She particularly emphasised its benefits for Colombia, a frequent destination for migrants and refugees fleeing economic turmoil and political repression in neighbouring Venezuela.

“ This deployment of biometric capabilities under the Department of Homeland Security’s biometric data sharing partnership is going to help us make an impact by helping Colombia — and by helping the Colombian people detect and to stop criminals and terrorists from attempting to cross its borders,” Noem said.

“So while we work together, the people of Colombia will be safer.”

The administration of US President Donald Trump has frequently highlighted the dangers of undocumented immigration, associating it with criminality.

But studies have repeatedly shown that undocumented immigrants in the US tend to commit far fewer crimes than US-born citizens. A study funded by the National Institute of Justice, for example, found that undocumented people are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born citizens for violent crimes.

Still, high-profile incidents, including the 2024 murder of Laken Riley at the hands of a Venezuelan immigrant, have proven to be galvanising forces on the US right.

“We recognise that there are dangerous criminals and organised, sophisticated cartels and criminal organisations that we need to address together in order to end the horrific things that are being conducted in our communities each and every day,” Noem said on Thursday.

Sarabia, left, and Noem signed a memorandum paving the way for sharing biometric data [Alex Brandon/Pool via Reuters]

Trump has repeatedly pledged to take action against undocumented immigration, calling it an “invasion” and campaigning on a platform of “mass deportation”.

On the first day of his second term, Trump declared the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua a “foreign terrorist organisation”, a designation that was ultimately formalised this month.

He has also invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 — a wartime law — to deport Venezuelans he accused of being gang members to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.

His use of that law, however, has been challenged in court, and a temporary block on his ability to exercise its powers was upheld by a federal appeals court on Thursday.

Trump’s campaign against undocumented immigration, however, has earned him criticism, including from Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.

In January, just days after Trump’s inauguration, Petro took to social media to denounce the US president’s treatment of undocumented immigrants from Colombia, citing the use of restraints and military aircraft to return them to their home country.

He ordered two US planes that were midair to turn around.

“A migrant is not a criminal and must be treated with the dignity that a human being deserves,” Petro said. “That’s why I had the US military planes carrying Colombian migrants returned.”

That order sparked one of the first major diplomatic incidents of Trump’s second term as president.

Trump responded by threatening Colombia with 25-percent tariffs that would increase to 50 percent if Colombia did not agree to accept the deportees. Petro, Colombia’s first left-wing president, ultimately relented.

In Thursday’s signing ceremony, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia nevertheless underscored her country’s stance that migrants must be respected.

She said the memorandum her government signed would “establish specific, realistic measures” that would “ensure that the human rights and the dignity of migrants are actually respected”.

Prior to Trump’s freeze on international aid, Colombia was the largest recipient of US assistance in South America. It has also been a close collaborator in the US’s “war on drugs”.

But some critics have questioned the expanding use of the International Biometric Information Sharing programme, run by the US Department of Homeland Security.

The UK-based nonprofit Statewatch, for instance, has criticised the growing exchange of biometric data between governments.

In a 2022 report, it concluded that such practices are “likely to exacerbate existing discriminatory practices” and streamline the enforcement of “divisive and exclusionary laws and policies”.