\n<\/p>\n
Central American countries have long taken back their own citizens deported from the United States. But now the Trump administration has called on them to take in people from other countries around the world as well.<\/p>\n
The extraordinary measures involved in these deportations \u2014 hundreds of migrants whisked away by plane without knowing their destinations and bused to isolated shelters \u2014 have shifted attention to Panama and Costa Rica and to how Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown is playing out far beyond U.S. borders.<\/p>\n
So far, the number of migrants from elsewhere deported to Central America is still small, and it remains unclear if it will grow. Regional leaders largely say they are actively cooperating with the United States or have downplayed the significance of the deportations. However, analysts warn that these leaders have been backed into a corner with the threat of tariffs and that any increase in deportation flights could eventually push Central America to its limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re powerless to do anything,\u201d said Christopher Sabatini, a senior research fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, a research institute in London. \u201cAnd we saw with President Petro of Colombia the consequences if you resist: sanctions against diplomatic personnel, loss of visa rights, as well as tariffs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
This month, the Trump administration sent three military planes carrying roughly 300 migrants \u2014 mostly from Asia and the Middle East \u2014 to Panama. Days later, a flight carrying 135 people, nearly half of them children and including dozens of people from China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe, landed in Costa Rica.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The migrants, who the American authorities say illegally crossed the southern border, are to remain in the custody of the local authorities until they can be returned to their countries or secure asylum somewhere else.<\/p>\n
Sending them to other countries removes many of the hurdles that Mr. Trump faced during his first term in trying to curb illegal immigration, according to analysts.<\/p>\n
It helps alleviate overcrowding in U.S. detention facilities by removing people from countries like China, Afghanistan and Iran, where a lack of diplomatic relations with the United States makes deportations particularly challenging.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Additionally, the immediate removal of migrants allows the United States to sidestep international legal obligations to offer people who may face life-threatening conditions in their home countries the opportunity to ask for asylum.<\/p>\n
Swift deportations also allow the administration to avoid another notably thorny obstacle that Mr. Trump ran into during his first term: Under U.S. law, authorities are not permitted to hold children in detention for more than 20 days<\/a>, regardless of whether they are with their parents. Of the migrants deported to Central America so far, a large proportion have been families with children.<\/p>\n Publicly, leaders across Central America \u2014 clearly worried about the possibility of retribution if they defy the United States \u2014 are rejecting the idea that they are being coerced to accept these migrants.<\/p>\n In Panama, officials are characterizing themselves as fully engaged partners on migration. This commitment follows a surge that destabilized the region in recent years, as hundreds of thousands of people crossed into Panama through the Dari\u00e9n Gap, the perilous jungle corridor between Colombia and Panama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Costa Rica, for its part, has sought to downplay its decision to take in people from distant countries. Officials say it as a one-time request from the U.S. government that involves a negligible number of people. They shrugged off the flight of deportees in a news conference last week, lumping the arrivals in with other migrants who have begun trickling south as the United States and Mexico harden the border. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Still, President Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica was frank about his government\u2019s motivation in receiving the migrants: \u201cWe are helping the economically powerful brother from the north,\u201d he told a crowd last week, \u201cwho, if he puts a tax on the free trade zones, will wreck us.\u201d<\/p>\n Analysts say it is likely that more countries in the region will receive deportees from other countries. Officials in El Salvador and Guatemala have already said that they were willing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest problem facing regional governments willing to do Trump\u2019s deportation business is that they must walk the tightrope,\u201d said John Feeley, a former U.S. ambassador to Panama. They have to present themselves as \u201chumanitarian, rule-of-law societies,\u201d he said, even as they stand to look like \u201ccruel henchmen\u201d of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Costa Rica and Panama have said that along with food, clean water and medical care, the migrants are being given the chance to apply for asylum with the help of United Nations agencies. Local officials have been adamant that they are not sending migrants back to countries where they say they face grave danger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Panamanian officials have also said that they are not acting under threat.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no quid pro quo, no threats,\u201d Carlos Ruiz-Hern\u00e1ndez, Panama\u2019s vice foreign minister, said in an interview. He added that the negotiation with the administration over the Panama Canal \u2014 which Mr. Trump has claimed to be under Chinese control \u2014 is \u201ccompartmentalized\u201d from the agreement to take in migrants deported by the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Accepting the migrant flights is an expansion of an agreement made last summer between Panama and the United States to work together to curb migration, starting at the Dari\u00e9n Gap, said Mr. Ruiz-Hern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n Panamanian officials have also countered the claim by lawyers there that it is illegal under Panamanian law for the government to detain people for longer than 24 hours without a court order. In the context of immigration, the government legally has \u201cbroader powers\u201d to detain people while their migration status is being settled, Mr. Ruiz-Hern\u00e1ndez said.<\/p>\n But the government will likely face pushback.<\/p>\n