Costa Rica Joins Panama in Detaining Deportees from the US in Stopover Back to their Countries

• A U.S. flight carrying 135 deportees, half of them minors, from various countries was set to land Thursday in Costa Rica, making it the second Latin American nation to serve as a stopover for migrants as U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration steps up deportations.
• Upon arrival, the migrants will be bused from Costa Rica’s capital to a rural holding facility near the Panama border, where they will wait up to 30 days to be flown back to their countries of origin, said Omer Badilla, Costa Rica’s deputy minister of the interior and police. The U.S. government will cover the costs.
• The arrangement is part of a deal the Trump administration struck with Costa Rica during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit earlier this month. Similar agreements have been reached with other Latin American nations, but the concept of using third countries as deportation layovers has drawn strong criticism from human rights advocates.
• Beyond the conditions of their detention in Costa Rica, concerns revolve around international protections for asylum seekers and whether these deportees will be appropriately screened before being returned to their countries or sent to yet another country.
• Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves told reporters Wednesday that his country is helping its “economically powerful brother from the north.” It comes as Trump has pressured countries across the region to help facilitate deportations at times under the threat of steep tariffs or sanctions.
• Panama this week became the first such country to accept 299 deportees from other nations, with the government holding them in hotel rooms guarded by police. About one-third of those who refused to voluntarily return to their countries were sent to a remote camp in Darien province bordering Colombia on Wednesday. The rest were awaiting commercial flights back home.

(Source: AP News)