Human Rights Watch, an international NGO, urged Costa Rica to “not be complicit in flagrant US abuses,” regarding migrants. “Costa Rican authorities should expeditiously identify potential refugee claims and ensure that no one is returned to a place where they are at risk of serious harm,” said Michael Garcia Bochenek, senior children’s rights counsel at Human Rights Watch.
The nation welcomed a group of 200 migrants, consisting of 80 children, who were directed to a facility close to the southern border. Costa Rican authorities reported that they had not received any asylum applications, and several individuals had already been returned to their home countries.
“U.S. and Costa Rican authorities have claimed that all third-country nationals deported to Costa Rica want to return to their home countries. But five of them told Human Rights Watch that they and others consistently told US and Costa Rican officials that they had fled persecution and were seeking asylum,” the NGO disclosed.
As reported by Human Rights Watch, a 23-year-old female stated that she escaped Iran due to persecution for her conversion to Christianity. “She had an initial credible fear interview in mid-February with a US asylum officer. Immediately afterward, she said, US immigration agents told her she would be deported to Iran. The following week, they sent her to Costa Rica,” Human Rights Watch stated.
Another woman sought asylum at the border crossing in Yuma, Arizona, in mid-February, and she was let in along with her 2-year-old son. Following a credible fear interview, they were both sent to Costa Rica without the chance to meet with an immigration judge.
The NGO highlighted that a large family from Afghanistan was divided: a woman was relocated to Panama, her spouse stayed in the U.S., while her sister, brother-in-law, and 14-month-old nephew ended up in Costa Rica. They were afraid of retaliation from the Taliban, since they worked for the former government. In the U.S. they informed authorities about their situation but didn’t get a credible fear interview.
A Russian family who fled their home after the man, an election worker, tried to expose irregularities in the country’s 2024 election, said they were ignored by U.S. officials when seeking asylum. “There is no excuse for Costa Rica’s failure to safeguard the rights and well-being of the children it is detaining following their deportation from the United States,” Bochenek said.
