Costa Rica Agrees to Take 25 Weekly Deportees from U.S. Under New Deal

Costa Rica has committed to receiving 25 migrants per week who are being deported from the United States to third countries under a new agreement with the Trump administration. The Central American nation joins several other countries accepting deportees who are not their own citizens, despite past controversies over treatment of such migrants.

SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica — The government of Costa Rica announced Thursday it will receive 25 migrants weekly who are being removed from the United States under a new arrangement supporting the Trump administration’s policy of sending deportees to nations other than their home countries.

This Central American country now becomes part of an expanding list of nations throughout Africa and the Americas that have entered into controversial and often confidential deals with Washington to take in deportees from other nations. President Donald Trump has been pushing governments to support his immigration priorities. These policies frequently leave migrants who had hoped to claim asylum in America stranded in legal limbo within foreign nations where they cannot speak the local language.

Nations that have committed to accepting third-party migrants include South Sudan, Honduras, Rwanda, Guyana, and multiple Caribbean territories such as Dominica and St. Kitts and Nevis.

“Costa Rica is prepared to see this flow of people,” Public Security Minister Mario Zamora Cordero stated in a video message released Thursday.

The Costa Rican government finalized this agreement on Monday when U.S. special representative for the “Shield of the Americas” initiative Kristi Noem visited the country. Noem, who was recently dismissed from her position as Homeland Security secretary, has been conducting diplomatic missions across Latin America, including recent visits to Guyana and Ecuador.

“We are very proud to have partners like President (Rodrigo Chaves) and Costa Rica, who are working to ensure that people who are in our country illegally have the opportunity to return to their countries of origin,” Noem stated Monday.

Costa Rican officials described the arrangement as a “non-binding migration agreement” and explained that it permits the Trump administration to transfer foreign nationals who are not Costa Rican citizens, while giving the Central American nation authority to approve or decline specific transfer requests.

Officials said deportees will be handled according to Costa Rica’s immigration regulations under a designated migratory classification, and the country will work to prevent sending individuals back to nations where they could face persecution risks.

These transfer programs have drawn harsh criticism for placing vulnerable groups in greater danger and sometimes relocating them to hazardous countries or situations where they face threats. Costa Rica has already encountered backlash regarding its handling of 200 deportees from nations including Russia, China, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan who arrived last year.

These deportees, with half being children, had their travel documents confiscated and were detained for months at a remote facility near the Panama border, leading to legal challenges and allegations of human rights violations. The nation’s highest court mandated their release last June.

Many deportees who expressed fear about returning to their home countries were subsequently granted temporary authorization to remain in Costa Rica. Panama faced similar criticism after detaining hundreds of deportees during the same period.

Minister Zamora provided assurances Thursday that incoming deportees would experience improved conditions, with the government coordinating with the United States to facilitate migrants’ return to their home countries and partnering with the U.N. International Organization for Migration to provide housing for deportees in Costa Rica. He did not immediately specify detention locations or duration.

“This will ensure they remain in the best possible conditions while in Costa Rica and guarantee their safe return to their countries of origin,” Zamora stated.

A minimum of seven African countries have established agreements with the United States to enable deportations of third-country citizens, which legal analysts describe as essentially a method to bypass laws preventing countries from sending people to locations where their lives would be endangered.

Numerous deportees had received legal protections from U.S. judges preventing their return to home countries, according to their attorneys.

The Trump administration has allocated at least $40 million to deport approximately 300 migrants to countries other than their own, based on a February analysis by Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.