House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Meeks Urges Trump to Safeguard U.S.-Colombia Partnership

Washington, D.C. - Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today sent a letter to President Trump urging him to consider the national security ramifications of a potential U.S. decertification of Colombia for failing to meet counternarcotics benchmarks, without broad waivers to allow continued U.S. assistance to the country. Meeks pointed to Colombia's significant efforts in counternarcotics cooperation, the positive results of a multidecade U.S.-Colombia partnership, and how diminishing this partnership would jeopardize U.S. national security and bolster transnational crime organizations.

The full text of the letter can be found below. A PDF copy of the letter can be found here.

Dear President Trump,

U.S. law requires the President, by September 15 each year, to report on major drug producing and transit countries, including those that have "failed demonstrably" in the prior 12 months to make "substantial efforts" to adhere to international counternarcotics obligations and take stipulated counternarcotics measures. While the law triggers reductions in assistance, the law permits the President to continue funding levels appropriated by Congress if deemed it is in the U.S. national interest to do so.

As you fulfill this obligation, I urge you to sustain comprehensive U.S.-Colombia cooperation, which has advanced regional security, prosperity and democracy for more than two decades. A decertification of Colombia, without broad waivers to allow continued U.S. assistance, would endanger U.S. national security by strengthening transnational crime organizations, some of which the administration has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and fueling further coca production and criminal activity.

Through joint training, intelligence sharing, and combined security operations, the United States and Colombia have together advanced regional stability, disrupted transnational criminal organizations, and supported the rule of law. Colombian forces have become among the most capable and professional in the region, in large part due to sustained U.S. engagement. Between January 2024 and June 2025, for example, 85% of all actionable intelligence used by the Naval Air Station Key West Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF South) originated in Colombia.

Since the launch of Plan Colombia in 2000, the United States has worked closely with the Colombian military and National Police to combat coca production in the country. Less than a month ago, 13 Colombian National Police officers were killed as they took part in coca eradication efforts in Antioquia. The Colombian military and National Police have repeatedly made such sacrifices in service of coca eradication and countering transnational crime organizations that endanger both American and Colombian citizens.

Colombia's results are clear. In 2024 alone, Colombia seized almost 1,000 tons of cocaine, that represented 65% of global cocaine seizures and the equivalent of 750 million lethal doses and $22.5 billion denied to criminal networks. Most importantly, the Colombian government is currently on pace to reach a record of 288 extraditions of individuals convicted of criminal activity and drug-related crimes in the United States in 2025 alone.

U.S. assistance to Colombia has also served as a force multiplier for building professional, capable security forces across the region. Through the U.S. Colombia Action Plan (USCAP), Colombia has trained at least eight countries to address the threat of armed groups, transnational crime organizations, and narcotics trafficking. Colombian experts are supported by the United States to train other regional security forces in best practices to counter armed groups and narcotics trafficking. This work has been vital in places like Ecuador and Haiti facing an uptick in gang violence and criminal activity that threaten the stability of the Western Hemisphere.

This partnership is not charity-it is an essential investment in U.S. national security. Every dollar spent on strengthening Colombia's security and governance institutions help deny safe haven to drug traffickers, weakens transnational criminal networks that threaten our communities, and bolsters a democratic partner in a region where malign actors, including Russia, China and Iran, seek to expand their influence. The U.S.-Colombia partnership was built to transcend political administrations, and any policy that debilitates our cooperation now would strongly undermine any future president of Colombia's ability to get control of the security situation and expand counternarcotics operations. A decertification, without broad waivers would jeopardize America's national security and be a gift to the transnational crime organizations that have wreaked havoc on the Colombian people, most significantly against the Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities that have borne the brunt of their violence.