Costa Rica receives first group of deported migrants under agreement with US

Costa Rica on Saturday has received the first group of migrants from other countries deported from the United States under an agreement signed in March between the two countries, local authorities said.

Costa Rica's General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners said the 25 migrants included citizens of Albania, Cameroon, China, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kenya, and Morocco.

"Upon entering the country, the migrants will receive primary care from the Professional Migration Police, with the cooperation of the International Organization for Migration (IOM)," the Costa Rican agency said in a statement.

Under the agreement, Costa Rica will receive up to 25 people per week, while the United States will provide financial support, and the IOM will offer food and accommodation during the first seven days of migrants' stay in the country.

The agreement is part of US President Donald Trump's efforts to ramp up his mass deportation program, including removing immigrants to third countries that are not their country of origin. The administration has said that such third-country deportations are "necessary to remove people whose home countries refuse to accept them".

But these deportations have faced criticism from Democrats and human rights advocates for stranding migrants in countries far from their homelands, where they often don't speak the language or have any family ties.

In February, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report that said the deportation agreements with foreign governments cost American taxpayers millions of dollars - at times more than $1 million per person shipped out of the country - and produce little benefit.