United States deported 200 third-country migrants to Costa Rica without written agreement

On February 20 and 28, 2025, the United States deported roughly 200 people — including about 80 children — to Costa Rica on two flights, ahead of any written agreement governing the transfers. The group included nationals of Afghanistan, China, Iran, Russia, Uzbekistan, Nepal, India, Congo, and other countries with no connection to Costa Rica; on arrival they were held at a "migration reception facility" in Corredores canton near the Panamanian border, with Costa Rican authorities confiscating their passports and other identity documents.

Human Rights Watch documented conditions it said were unsuitable for the children held there — no education or structured activities, and very warm, humid conditions that left children listless with little appetite — and Costa Rica's own ombuds office separately criticized the facility. In August 2025, U.S. Senator Edward Markey wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio noting that five months after the flights, "dozens of people remain in vulnerable situations" with no clarity on their fate, and that Congress had still not received the specific agreements under which they were transferred, despite Case-Zablocki Act reporting requirements. Costa Rica's Constitutional Court ordered the deportees' release that June, finding the government had violated their rights by denying access to legal counsel and adequate information about their immigration status.

2026-03-23 — Costa Rica signed new MOU for regular weekly transfers, ombudsman lost track of arrivals

Costa Rica signed a new, non-binding migration agreement with the United States on March 23, 2026 (press reports at the time cited March 26), during a visit by Kristi Noem, the administration official overseeing its "Shield of the Americas" initiative. The signed MOU's Annex A sets out concrete transfer procedures: the U.S. intends to propose up to 25 individuals per week (Costa Rica may accept more at its discretion), send a flight manifest through the U.S. Embassy in San José 48 hours before each transfer with each person's name, sex, date of birth, nationality, and known criminal record, and the U.S. expects to compensate the International Organization for Migration for reception services provided to Costa Rica at no cost to the country. The first flight under the new agreement arrived April 11, 2026, carrying 25 people, roughly half from Asian and half from African countries with no personal connection to Costa Rica. Refugees International warned that if weekly flights continued, Costa Rica would receive more third-country nationals than any country except Mexico, and noted that as of April 13 the Costa Rican Human Rights Ombudsman — who had previously intervened on behalf of the 200 people deported in February 2025 — was unable to determine where the new arrivals were being held or in what conditions.