SAN JOSE (Reuters) – Costa Rica’s government received its first group of mostly Asian migrants deported from the United States on Thursday, part of a deal with Washington to temporarily house up to 200 deportees from other nations.
The deportations are part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on unlawful migration that includes a growing number of flights to nations cooperating with him on the multinational repatriations.
The latest group of expelled migrants were flown from the city of San Diego to Costa Rican capital San Jose, from where they were sent by bus to a migrant shelter near the border with Panama.
The migrants will be allowed to stay in Costa Rica for one month, during which time officials will coordinate their voluntary return to their home countries, Deputy Security Minister Omer Badilla told reporters at the San Jose airport.
“Most of them want to return to their countries,” Badilla said, adding that those who declined would have their cases addressed on an individual basis.
The group – all part of family units – were from Uzbekistan, China, Armenia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia, Georgia, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan and Ghana.
Up to 200 migrants from other nations deported by the U.S. are expected to be sent to Costa Rica as part of the most recent deal, President Rodrigo Chaves announced on Wednesday, citing the threat of U.S. tariffs on Costa Rican goods.
Also on Thursday U.S. authorities ordered 177 Venezuelan migrants flown from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras. They will later be sent to Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the Panamanian government said that three of the migrants it had received from the U.S. from other nations had requested asylum and that they could ultimately be received by other countries such as Canada.
(Reporting by Alvaro Murillo in San Jose; Additional reporting by Elida Moreno in Panama City; Writing by Adriana Barrera and Kylie Madry; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Michael Perry)
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