Costa Rica has consented to accept illegal Indian migrants deported from the United States, serving as a temporary holding place while authorities decide what to do with them.
The deportation will start on Wednesday under a US-funded initiative, with the migrants being housed in a temporary detention center close to Panama's border, according to a statement from Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles' office.
Neither the US nor Costa Rica has laid out what will be done with the migrants once they are detained in Costa Rica.
The deal will enable Washington to circumvent establishing mass-scale detention centers within American borders, which would avoid logistical and political difficulties the facilities could present.
The Costa Rican government has decided to cooperate with the United States in the repatriation of 200 illegal immigrants to their homeland," the President's office confirmed. Among the deportees will be people from India and Central Asia.".
India, for its part, has agreed to take in a minimum of 18,000 of its own nationals who traveled to the US illegally, while Washington has already started direct repatriations. On Monday, the third airplane with 112 Indian migrants was brought back to Amritsar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his recent trip to Washington, reasserted India's determination to repatriate any confirmed illegal Indian migrant and promised to strengthen action against human trafficking rings targeting vulnerable groups.
The deal with Costa Rica comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's trip to the country, where he asked for Costa Rica's backing for President Donald Trump's wider crackdown on illegal immigration.
Other such arrangements have been made with Panama, Guatemala, and El Salvador, which are also accepting deported migrants.
At the same time, illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China were deported to Panama.
As part of its overall immigration enforcement policy, the Trump administration has also used the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which is mostly occupied by people associated with the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Guantanamo Bay, although situated in Cuba, is leased to the US on a long-term basis, making it possible to have some legal exceptions since it is an external territory.
Costa Rica is situated on one of the major migration paths taken by people traveling from South America through the perilous Darien Gap in Panama, trying to make their way into the US.
Some videos doing the rounds on social media point to this so-called "Donkey Route," which illustrates the perilous path undertaken by numerous Indian migrants.
Addressing a press conference in Washington on Thursday, with President Trump standing alongside him, Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India's strong position: "India and the US have always been on the same side on this issue. Any confirmed Indian who is here in the US illegally—we are completely ready to take them back."
He also emphasized the importance of US-India collaboration in dismantling the trafficking networks that cheat and exploit young, poor, and vulnerable people in India, enticing them into illegal migration.
Read also| Russia and US Set to Appoint Ambassadors, Form Negotiating Teams for Ukraine Peace Talks
Read also| Scholz Urges Europe to Keep Supporting Ukraine and Reject 'Peace of Dictate'
