United States redirected foreign aid to fund Costa Rica's interception of US-bound migrants

On April 3, 2025, the United States and Costa Rica signed a Memorandum of Understanding "Concerning Assistance for the Deportation of Select Irregular Migrants" — an arrangement that runs the opposite direction from the third-country deportation deals the U.S. struck with dozens of other nations. Rather than the U.S. sending people to Costa Rica, DHS provides Costa Rica technical advice, equipment, air transportation, and escort funding to conduct Costa Rica's own deportations of migrants who lack legal status there, primarily those transiting toward the United States. The MOU's Annex A gives a DHS "program manager" a direct operational role, receiving deportation-type classifications ("criminal, terrorism-related, illegal migrant") and coordinating charter or commercial flight scheduling with Costa Rican officials. The agreement includes a clause stating the parties "affirm their intent not to publicize this MOU, until its effective date, except as required by law."

Reuters reported in August 2025 that the State Department planned to redirect up to $7.85 million from its Economic Support Fund — a foreign-aid budget line typically used to promote economic development in allied countries — to DHS to fund the program, raising questions about repurposing foreign aid for extraterritorial immigration enforcement. A State Department spokesperson said the funding was intended to "build capacity of the Costa Rican immigration authorities to stop the flow of illegal migration through its borders," while acknowledging the arrangement was modeled in part on a 2024 deal the Biden administration struck with Panama, under which the U.S. paid Panama to detain and deport migrants moving toward the U.S. border from Colombia. The MOU does not specify which countries Costa Rica may deport people to, leaving open the possibility that some transferred migrants are sent onward to third countries rather than returned home.