Costa Rica stopover for US deportees

AP SAN JOSE (Costa Rica)

A flight carrying 135 deportees, half of them minors, landed in Costa Rica’s capital Thursday, marking the country’s new role as a detention stop for the Trump administration while migrants await repatriation. The group, from Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, Russia and other countries, will be held at a facility near the Panama border for up to six weeks before being flown home. The US is covering costs.

The move places Costa Rica alongside Panama and Honduras as Central American nations aiding the US’s deportation efforts. Honduras on Thursday also facilitated a handoff of Venezuelan deportees from Guantanamo Bay. 

The agreement was finalized during  US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent visit, as President Donald Trump pressures regional governments to assist in deportations, sometimes under threat of tariffs or sanctions. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said his country is helping its “economically powerful brother from the north”.

The practice of using third countries as deportation waypoints has drawn criticism from human rights advocates, who warn about detention conditions and asylum protections. Panama, which accepted 299 deportees this week, placed many in a hotel under police guard, while those refusing repatriation were sent to a remote camp in Darien province, bordering Colombia.