A deportation flight leaving the U.S. Thursday carrying 135 mostly Asian undocumented migrants is expected to land in Costa Rica in the afternoon. Almost half of the migrants will be children.
The migrants, heading from San Diego to San Jose, hail from China, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, among other countries. Sixty five minors and at least two pregnant women are among the deportees, Omer Badilla, Costa Rica’s deputy minister of the interior and police, told Noticias Telemundo on Wednesday.
Some of the migrants’ home countries have not easily accepted to repatriate them. In the meantime, Costa Rica serves as a “bridge” for them, the U.S. government has said.
The deportation flight is the latest headed to Central America, as some 300 people — also from mostly Asian countries — are being held in a Panama hotel.
Badilla said Costa Rica agreed to accept the migrants “because of our history and our customs as human rights protectors,” and that the agreement with the Trump administration isn’t based on any special conditions.
“We responded to the United States’ government’s request and we raised our hand to help them,” Badilla said.
Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves said during a press conference Wednesday that the country is helping its “economically powerful brother from the north.”
“If they impose a tax in our free zones, it’ll screw us,” Chaves said. “I don’t think they’ll do it, thank God … love is repaid with love … 200 will come, we treat them well and they will leave.”
The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
The flight to Costa Rica is also carrying migrants from Tajikistan, Vietnam, Georgia and Azerbaijan, Badilla said. None of the migrants have criminal records but are undocumented, he said.
Upon landing, the migrants will board a bus for a six-hour trip to the town of Corredores, on the border with Panama, where they will be housed in a Temporary Migrant Care Center.
The Thursday flight marks the first in which Costa Rica will serve as a stopover for deportees. The U.S. is footing the bill for the flights, including the flights that will eventually transport these migrants to their home countries. And the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, will provide humanitarian support.
“IOM’s role in assisting people deported from the United States focuses on providing humanitarian support and facilitating return when it is safe to do so,” a spokesperson for the IOM said in a statement. “While we are not directly involved in the detention or restriction of movement of people, we are committed to ensuring that all migrants are treated with dignity and in accordance with international standards.”
All the deportees will be subject to a “detailed study” of their situation, Badilla said, to ensure that their lives are not in danger in their home countries. And some, he noted, will be able to request refugee status in Costa Rica. The country typically allows up to 30 days to repatriate the deported migrants, but Badilla said the process could be extended to ensure that their human rights will not be violated upon returning home.
The hundreds of people recently deported to Panama are being held in a hotel there and are forbidden to leave the premises as they wait for international authorities to arrange their return home, The Associated Press reported.
“What we agreed with the U.S. government is that they will stay here and are under our temporary custody for their protection, but the International Organization for Migration and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) are responsible for repatriation to their countries,” Frank Abrego, Panama’s minister of public security said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Officials said that more than 40% of the deportees at the hotel say they will not voluntarily go back to their home countries, and many have written messages on their hotel windows asking for help. Those unwilling to return to their countries will be transported to a facility in the Darien province, Abrego said, a point many migrants cross to make the dangerous trek up to the U.S.
The post On a U.S. deportation flight of mostly Asians to Costa Rica, half will be minors appeared first on NBC News.
