US President Donald Trump vowed on Sunday to hit Colombia with steep tariffs and other sanctions after his counterpart Gustavo Petro blocked deportation flights from the United States.

"Petro's denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States, so I have directed my Administration to immediately take the following urgent and decisive retaliatory measures," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

He listed "25 percent tariffs," a travel ban on Colombian government officials, and invoking sanctions under emergency presidential powers -- among several other severe responses.

Colombia's refusal to accept the flights is the second case of a Latin American nation refusing US military deportation flights.

"The US cannot treat Colombian migrants as criminals," Petro wrote, noting that there were 15,660 Americans without proper immigration status in Colombia.

Petro's comments add to the growing chorus of discontent in Latin America as Trump's week-old administration starts mobilising for mass deportations.

Brazil's foreign ministry late on Saturday condemned "degrading treatment" of Brazilians after migrants were handcuffed on a commercial deportation flight. Upon arrival, some of the passengers also reported mistreatment during the flight, according to local news reports.

The plane, which was carrying 88 Brazilian passengers, 16 US security agents, and eight crew members, had been originally scheduled to arrive in Belo Horizonte in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

There, Brazilian officials ordered the removal of the handcuffs, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva designated a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) flight to complete their journey, the government said in a statement Saturday.

The commercial charter flight was the second this year from the US carrying undocumented migrants deported back to Brazil and the first since Trump's inauguration, according to Brazil's federal police.

The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon's response to Trump's national emergency declaration on immigration on Monday.

In the past, US military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

This has been the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one American official said. (Agencies)