Costa Rica joins Panama to serve as a scale for deported migrants by the US

A flight from the United States that transported 135 people deported, half of them minors and from different countries, was scheduled to land on Thursday in Costa Rica, becoming the second Latin American nation to serve as a scale for migrants while the President Donald Trump intensifies deportations.

Upon arrival, migrants will be transferred by bus from the capital of Costa Rica to a rural detention center near the border with Panama, where they will wait up to 30 days to be returned to their countries of origin, said Omer Badilla, Deputy Minister of the Interior and Costa Rica Police. The United States government will cover costs.

The agreement is part of a pact that the Trump government signed with Costa Rica during the Visit of the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, earlier this month. Similar agreements have been reached with other Latin American nations.

Honduras said Thursday that he also served as a brief scale for a deportation flight of Venezuelans from the United States in what he described as a «humanitarian bridge», since there are no direct flights between the United States and Venezuela.

A flight from the United States that transported 170 Venezuelans landed on Thursday in a joint military base in the United States and Honduras in the center of Honduras, and in a few hours they were transferred to a Venezuelan aircraft. An official of the Honduras Foreign Ministry said it was not a routine agreement, but that the Central American nation remains willing to facilitate more transfers between the two adversaries.

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves told reporters on Wednesday that his country is helping his «economically powerful northern brother.» This occurs while Trump has pressed the countries in the region to help facilitate deportations, sometimes under the threat of imposing high tariffs or sanctions.

This week, Panama became the first Latin American country to accept 299 deportees from other nations, and the government housed them in hotel rooms guarded by the police. Approximately one third of those who refused to voluntarily return to their countries were sent to a remote camp in the province of Darién, on the border with Colombia, Wednesday. The rest was waiting for commercial flights back home.

«We discard the possibility of a hotel just so that the situation in Panama does not happen to us,» Badilla told The Associated Press.

Badilla indicated that the deportation flight of Thursday San Diego is largely composed of families, including 65 children and two pregnant women. He pointed out that Costa Rica was informed by the Trump government that most deportees have agreed to voluntarily return to their countries.

If they refuse, Costa Rica is willing to offer refuge to deportees or will work with the UN International Migration Organization (IIM) to facilitate the trip to a third country.

«Costa Rica is a country that guarantees human rights,» he said. “We are going to guarantee that returns are to safe countries. We cannot leave this issue free for an ethical and moral commitment of our country. ”

Meanwhile, migrants will be arrested at the Border Installation, where they will be accompanied by UN officials, the Red Cross and other government entities focused on the aid to “guarantee the rights of people,” said Badilla.

The installation that will be used to house migrants, an old factory, has faced criticism for its conditions in the past.

During a visit of the AP in October 2023, migrants were locked in crowded facilities and said they felt «imprisoned.» Many slept in tents on the ground, where some said that the fluid of portable toilets was leaked.

For his part, Badilla said the facilities have improved since then, but the government has denied access to journalists to the building.