Colombian President: New York a Free Zone for Drug Traffickers

DID Press: Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, sharply criticized U.S. immigration policies in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, saying that while drug traffickers operate freely in New York, former President Donald Trump has targeted poor Caribbean migrants.

Petro stressed that the victims of these attacks had no connection to drug trafficking networks, but were people attempting to escape poverty by crossing the sea.

Criticizing U.S. security measures toward migrants, he said: “It is all too easy to fire missiles at migrant boats and accuse them of terrorism or drug trafficking, while these individuals cannot even defend themselves.”

The Colombian president added that the reality of drug trafficking unfolds in the streets of New York and Miami, where traffickers reach agreements with prosecutors and are allowed to operate in Africa, Russia, and China — but not on U.S. soil.