A report from Human Rights Watch:
US: Asylum Seekers Expelled to Costa Rica Detail Abuses
Costa Rica Should Assist Third-Country Nationals, Refuse Future Transfers
(Washington, DC, May 22, 2025) – The United States should offer to bring back and hear the asylum claims of approximately 200 third-country nationals, including children, who were wrongfully expelled to Costa Rica in February, Human Rights Watch said today. Costa Rica should also refuse future transfers of third-country nationals expelled from the US.
The report, The Strategy Is to Break Us: The US Expulsion of Third-Country Nationals to Costa Rica, documents the US expulsions, which came after the U.S. government held migrants and asylum seekers in abusive detention conditions – sometimes for weeks – while denying them due process and the right to seek asylum. The report also details Costa Rica’s lengthy detention of third-country nationals expelled from the U.S., as well as the mixed messages the Costa Rican government has given those third-country nationals.
KJ