An old pencil factory turned into a center of attention for migrants in southern Costa Rica, very close to the border with Panama, was the unexpected destination of about 200 deported from the United States in mid -February. These people, among whom there were dozens of minors, had originally migrated from countries as varied as China, Iran, Vietnam, Ethiopia or Uzbekistan. All planned to request asylum in the United States. But Donald Trump’s government arrested them when trying to enter American territory through the border with Mexico and deported them without too much media stir to the Central American country.
In Panama, for those same dates, those deported from the US and also from different countries were already promoted. first they were housed in a hotel in the capital, Panama City, from where they asked for help with posters that hung from the windows of the rooms in which they were retained. Shortly after, those who did not agree to be repatriated to their countries of origin were sent to a detention center at the gates of the Darién jungle, near the border with Colombia.
In both cases, that of Costa Rica and that of Panama, the migrants have already been released, thanks in large part to the pressure exerted by the legal actions presented by humanitarian organizations against the governments of the two Central American nations. But deportees are still in a limbo: they are in an unknown place, many of them barely have resources and resist returning to their countries for fear of persecution.
It’s not about isolated situations. The most popular case of the reguero of deportations ordered by Trump was that of the around 250 Venezuelans sent to a Salvadoran prison in March, where they allegedly follow. But there is more. Mexico, discreetly, has received 5,466 foreigners deported since the return of the Republican tycoon to the White House on January 20, according to data from the Mexican government itself.
Nor is it a new practice. But the current US administration has reached agreements with Latin American governments that, according to human rights experts, do not shine for their legal guarantees. The advantage, in the eyes of the White House, is triple: it allows to expel people from countries with whom they do not have deportation agreements; release places in its detention centers; And it also sends a clear message, another, of deterrence to migrants.
From the first moment many questions were raised about the legality of these deportations, says Ariel Ruiz Soto, a senior analyst of the think tank (Ideas Laboratory) Migration Policy Institute (MPI). “Deporting people from the United States to another country that is not their country of origin is not technically illegal, but the implementation must comply with national and international legal processes,” he explains. “What we have seen is that President Trump wants to expand and seek the limit of what the migration law allows. When the state of emergency is declared [Trump firmó un decreto en su primer día de mandato para declarar una emergencia migratoria]the president assumes different powers that give him greater control on how to manage and reduce certain rights of foreign persons, undocumented or documented ”, deems Ruiz on the legal situation within the country. Despite contrary judicial orders, the state of emergency has also allowed to close the door in fact To new asylum requests and expedite the deportation procedure, by limiting the possibilities that immigrants have to challenge their cases before justice.
On the other hand, according to international law, a country has no obligation to receive foreigners, but does it only if it voluntarily accepts it or by a specific agreement with the government that orders deportation. In existing precedents – as the agreement signed by the European Union with Türkiye during the Syrian refugee crisis or the program Stay in Mexico From Trump’s first presidency – these agreements included the guarantee of being able to request asylum, either at the final destination or in the third temporary reception country. Therefore, these treaties used to emphasize that the third country was “safe.” It is no longer the case. “It is what human rights defense groups call illegal: the fact that they are sending them without guarantees of protection and evading the rights that migrants have to request asylum,” says Ruiz.
Now, on the other hand, the message is that deportees would only remain in these third countries for a while, that is, while looking for a way to return to their countries of origin. The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, referred to it last week. “When he entered [llegó al cargo] President Trump, for humanitarian reasons, without signing absolutely anything, we decided to accept people from other nationalities, particularly those who come along the northern border, and most voluntarily decide 30,000 per month than the previous president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had agreed with former president Joe Biden in the peak of the migratory crisis that broke out after the pandemic.
In Mexico, these deportations have not caught too much attention, but in Costa Rica and Panama, yes. And their governments have appealed to several demands that accuse them of violating the rights of deportees and also for the pressure of internal public opinion, alarmed by the conditions of detention of people who have not committed any crime and who, in fact, are fleeing persecution in their countries of origin.
In Panama, migrants were transferred from the jungle back to the city and released in early March. They were given 30 days to leave the country as they could. Several interviewed by Associated Press, As an Afghan who worked in the government overthrown by the Taliban and who already tried to settle in Iran and Pakistan without success, or a Russian member of the LGTBI community who fears the persecution of the Vladimir Putin regime, they said they would try to ask for asylum in the United States again, because they did not see any other option.
The answer was different in Costa Rica. In the last week of April, the Costa Rican authorities announced that they would open the door for deported people to stay in the country or abandon it if they preferred. In statements a The New York TimesOmer Badilla, the head of the country’s immigration authorities, said they would guarantee the protection of foreign deportees. “If the person has justified fear of returning to his country, we would never send him back,” he said.
For now, these types of flights from the United States have stopped – destined for El Salvador, due to a deep internal legal battle in the United States – while the corresponding governments analyze their following steps. “Guatemala or Ecuador are already seeing what the reaction was in Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador or Mexico to decide how they receive in the future. I would surprise me a lot if Guatemala decides to receive people from countries in Asia, for example, but not that he is open to receive people from other Central American countries. In Ecuador [Daniel Noboa] He said a little before his electoral victory that he was not going to do it, or only in some specific cases. But I could change your opinion, ”says analyst Ariel Ruiz.
But, in addition to taking into account the legal consequences and public opinion, the different countries must also consider the pressures and incentives that arrive from the United States. The Salvadoran Bukele, for example, will receive a millionaire compensation (at least six million dollars, according to the president himself) in exchange for enclosing Venezuelan migrants in his maximum security prison, as well as the extradition of several leaders of Salvadoran gangs that were in custody of the US authorities. Panama, meanwhile, must deal with Trump’s threats to take control of the channel. And above all, the warning of the tariffs or the possibility of winning the favor of the most powerful man in the world.
Beyond the American continent, negotiations on this type of agreement have also been carried out behind closed doors. As reported by several American media this week, Libya and Rwanda – which had already negotiated a controversial similar agreement with the United Kingdom a few years ago, although it was never implemented – they are in advanced conversations.
Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State who this week also became the Minister of National Security and thus the most powerful man in the Trump cabinet, made clear on Wednesday, sitting next to the president during the Council of Ministers, that this modality of deportation only just begins. “We are working with other countries to say: ‘We want to send them some of the most despicable human beings to their countries. Would they do that favor?’
Related news :