US deportees arriving in Panama and Costa Rica

Chapter 9 / US Intervention

By Martin Mowforth

From ENCA Newsletter No. 93

March 2025

On 12 February, three US military planes arrived in Panama carrying 299 shackled deportees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. A few days later a plane carrying 135 US deportees arrived in Costa Rica.

Along with Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica had agreed with the US Trump Administration, following a visit by the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to receive deported migrants who are not citizens of their own country. These recipient countries have agreed to ‘repatriate’ deported migrants. All three countries, however, are reportedly ill-equipped to cope with such an influx of vulnerable people. A half of those arriving in Costa Rica were children and included babies in arms and two of the women are pregnant.

After five hours in the flight to Costa Rica, they were immediately transferred to buses for an eight-hour journey to reach the Temporary Attention Centre of Migrants (CATEM by its Spanish initials) located in the Puntarenas region in the south of the country. The ombudsman who was present at the arrival and transfer claimed that many of the deportees cried out for help, especially in trying to let their families know their whereabouts, and others were clearly in some form of distress.

In Panama they were stripped of their passports and cellphones and forbidden to speak with lawyers or journalists. They were guarded by police and locked in a hotel in Panama City before being transferred to a temporary camp in the jungle. Almost 100 of the deportees who had not consented to their deportation were driven to a camp described in a Guardian article as like “a concentration camp”.

Panamanian political scientist Rodrigo Noriega from the University of Panama called this process of deportation “a legal catastrophe” and declared that it “violates international human rights treaties”. Costa Rican social researcher Carlos Sandoval explained that the United States is transferring the slow repatriation process to third countries. The US should administer deportation but has sought Central American countries to manage the process. Panama and Costa Rica say that the US assumes the total cost of the operation and that the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will participate in the process.

Costa Rican president Chaves said that “the United States is treating us very well.” Two Costa Rican deputies, however, were sanctioned by Washington for opposing the president’s decision to reject Chinese technology. President Chaves also explained that “We’re helping our powerful economic brother in the north, because if (the US) imposes a tax on our export zones, we’re screwed.”

Sources:

  • Mat Youkee, 19.02.25, ‘Police search for woman who escaped Panama hotel where US deportees are being held’, London, The Guardian.
  • NACLA Update, February 2025.
  • Daniela Muñoz Solano, 21.02.25, ‘Derechos humanos de migrantes deportados por Estados Unidos se violaron en Costa Rica, señala Defensoría’, San José, Semanario Universidad.
  • Tico Times, 21.02.25, ‘How Central America Turned Into US Deportation Centers’, AFP via Tico Times.
  • Reuters, 19.02.25, ‘Costa Rica could hold US deporteesfor up to six weeks, president says’, Reuters.