President Donald Trump is letting the world know he’s dead serious about ending illegal immigration — and even the bumptious caudillos of South America are listening.
Witness the almost-instant cave-in from Colombian President Gustavo Petro after he tried to go head to head with Trump on the issue.
After having initially agreed to take planeloads of repatriated illegals, Petro — a former leftist guerilla — did a 180 and refused to accept the illegals.
Trump promptly moved to set up “emergency” tariffs of up to 50% on Colombian goods and slammed down visa sanctions and enhanced inspection requirements on Colombian travelers.
Petro continued to splutter for a while — and then gave in, even offering up his own presidential plane as a transport.
Though he still blubbered on X in impotent rage, “You don’t like our freedom, fine. I do not shake hands with white enslavers.”
Yes, repatriating illegal immigrants now makes you an “enslaver.” Petro’s not only the leader of his nation, he’s apparently also a Barnard sophomore.
Aside from the so-good-you-couldn’t-make-it-up comedy here, the episode contains an important lesson.
Long before Joe Biden opened the border, illegal immigration to the United States was treated as an inescapable fact of life, like the changing seasons or the law of gravity.
Trump’s showing that the endless flood is, in fact, the product of policy choices — and it can be stemmed and even dammed, with a little bit of spine and persistence.
He’s also showing the world that, yes, the US is indeed a superpower.
And though it is a benevolent one, its leader will most certainly use its economic and military might to aggressively pursue the national interest.
That’s another departure from both Joe and his old boss Barack Obama, who saw America’s role in the world as one of eternal groveling for imaginary sins.
Good for Trump — the country needs him to keep going.
And then just watch the rest of the world fall in line.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
