Colombian migration authorities on Monday reported the expulsion of several members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Lev Tahor sect to the United States, including 17 foreign minors whom they considered at risk of having their rights violated.

The members were discovered on 22 November living in a hotel in Yarumal, a town in the north-west of the country, and were apparently planning to settle in Colombia, according to the authorities.

Among the group were nine adults and 17 minors, five of whom were wanted by their countries of origin.

Authorities said 26 people left the Andean country on a flight to New York, where the expelled adults would be received by U.S. authorities who would assess their legal situation.

The minors, the Colombian authorities added, would be placed in the care of New York Child Protective Services, in order to ensure the "comprehensive protection of their rights".

The 26 individuals had flown into Colombia between 22 and 23 October in two groups, with their documents in order, according to the migration authorities.

They explained that the minors were thought to have entered the country accompanied by a parent or relatives.

However, in some cases, the adults later were reported not to have legal custody due to orders from judicial and administrative authorities in the United States, "a situation that triggered a preventive alert from Interpol", they added.

The Interpol notices are global alerts issued for people who have been reported as missing or those considered victims of parental or criminal abduction.

Lev Tahor was founded in Jerusalem in the 1980s and has settled in countries such as the United States and Guatemala.

Last year, police in Guatemala raided a Lev Tahor compound in the Central American country, following reports of sexual abuse, taking at least 160 minors and 40 women into protective custody.

The sect has run into legal problems elsewhere.

In 2022, Mexican authorities arrested a leader of the sect near the Guatemalan border and removed a number of women and children from their compound.

In 2021, two leaders of the group were convicted of kidnapping and child sexual exploitation crimes in New York.

In the latter country, 160 children were recovered last year following reports of alleged abuse.

In June, El Salvador handed over Lev Tahor leader Eluzur Rumpler to Israel, where he is under investigation for alleged abuse of minors.