Authorities in Honduras have arrested five Syrians intending to make it to the United States with stolen Greek passports, triggering alarm Wednesday in the wake of the Paris attacks launched by Syria-linked jihadists.
PEÑAS BLANCAS, Guanacaste – When he began the long journey north from Ecuador, doctor Henry Roque wore a brand-name watch, carried a suitcase full of clothing and had a hat to protect him from the sun. Twenty-two days later, the only possessions he has are the clothes on his back and a Cuban passport.
Nicaragua temporarily closed its border with Costa Rica, and riot police fired tear gas after 700 Cubans reportedly tried to peacefully cross on Sunday.
By Thursday morning, more than a thousand Cuban migrants had been rounded up in Paso Canoas after crossing the border from Panama. Another 100 milled about outside Costa Rica’s Immigration Administration north of the capital, hoping for papers authorizing them to continue on to Nicaragua.
The transnational network, allegedly headed by a Costa Rican woman surnamed Rodríguez Torres charged Cubans between $7,000 and $15,000 to move them into the United States.
Costa Rica is increasingly a destination for refugees from the Northern Triangle countries. Last year, according to U.N. data, Costa Rica received more asylum applications from Salvadorans than Colombians for the first time ever.
Under a tough new immigration law, the Dominican Republic has been systematically arresting Haitians and dumping them at the border to start life over.
