Costa Rica received a third group of people deported from the United States yesterday afternoon, as the country continues carrying out a new migration cooperation agreement signed with Washington in late March. The latest flight brought 28 people to Juan Santamaría International Airport: 25 foreign nationals and three Costa Ricans. The arrivals were confirmed by the General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners.
The foreign nationals included five people from Honduras, five from Guatemala, four from Brazil, three from China, three from India, and one each from Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkey and Bolivia. A Romanian woman also arrived on the flight. She is the mother of a minor who had arrived in Costa Rica the previous week with his father.
The flight marks the third consecutive week in which Costa Rica has received migrants deported from the United States under the agreement. The first group arrived on April 11 with 25 foreign nationals. The second group arrived the following week with 30 people, including eight Costa Ricans.
The latest arrival brings the number of foreign nationals received under the current arrangement to 72. Costa Rican citizens have also been returned on recent flights, including the three who arrived Friday. Migration authorities said that of the 47 foreign nationals received in the previous flights, 18 are currently participating in the assisted voluntary return program. That group includes people from Albania, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Ireland and Morocco.
The remaining 29 migrants are in different situations. Twelve have said they do not want to return to their countries of origin. Eight need more information before making a decision. Two have expressed interest in returning but have not yet started the process. Five want to return, but not through the procedure managed by the International Organization for Migration, and two have withdrawn from the available options.
Costa Rican authorities said background checks are being carried out through the judicial system, Interpol and other international databases to verify that the people received do not pose a risk to the country.
The deportations are part of a bilateral memorandum of understanding signed in March by President Rodrigo Chaves and U.S. Special Envoy Kristi Noem. Under the arrangement, Costa Rica agreed to receive up to 25 third-country nationals expelled from the United States each week, with the possibility of accepting more at its discretion.
Costa Rican officials have described the agreement as non-binding and said the country can reject individual cases or specific nationalities. The government has also said the migrants will be processed under Costa Rican migration law and that the country will avoid returning people to places where they could face persecution.
Chaves defended the agreement when it was announced, saying it allows Costa Rica to cooperate with the United States while staying within the country’s human rights commitments. “It is a cooperation agreement between Costa Rica and the United States, allowing Costa Rica to once again act as an ally of the United States on issues that matter in the hemisphere,” Chaves said at the time.
“It is a voluntary agreement; we could refuse anyone, decline to accept specific nationalities, but cooperate within the framework of our country’s human rights.” The program has drawn scrutiny from human rights groups and migration advocates, who have raised concerns about sending people to countries where they may have no family ties, no support network and no language skills. Similar third-country deportation agreements have been used by the United States with other countries in the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean.
For now, Costa Rica remains one of the countries receiving deportees under the U.S. policy, while local authorities continue to process arrivals, review security checks and determine who will return voluntarily, seek legal options in Costa Rica or remain undecided.
