Colombia registered 56,072 irregular migratory transits through its territory between January and July 2026, marking the lowest figure for that seven-month period since 2023, according to data from the country’s migration agency, Migración Colombia.
The issue of irregular migration has drawn heightened public attention following a security council meeting in Barranquilla, a port city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, where President Abelardo De La Espriella ordered Migración Colombia and the National Police to launch operations to identify and deport undocumented migrants, prioritizing those who have committed crimes. A day later, Interior Minister Rodrigo Lara clarified that the crackdown would specifically target criminal networks profiting from human trafficking and smuggling, rather than migrants broadly.
An analysis by El Tiempo’s Data Unit of migration flows recorded between January 2023 and July 2026 found a total of 1,153,365 irregular transit movements nationwide during that period. Venezuelan nationals accounted for 73.7 percent of all people who passed through Colombia irregularly, by far the largest group. Together, migrants from Venezuela, Ecuador, and Haiti made up 88 percent of all irregular transits recorded in the country over the more than three-year span, reflecting Colombia’s role as a key corridor for migrants—many heading toward Central America and the United States—fleeing economic and political crises in the region.
Read the full report at El Tiempo for detailed breakdowns of nationalities and migration routes.
Image: The Fun Chronicles, CC0 1.0 (via Openverse).