Legal group sues Costa Rica alleging the rights of 81 children deported by Trump were violated

MEXICO CITY – A radical of quality rights lawyers is suing Costa Rica, alleging the Central American federation violated the rights of dozens of migrant children by detaining them successful a agrarian campy for astir 2 months aft they were deported from the U.S. successful February.

The children, immoderate arsenic young arsenic 2, are portion of a radical of hundreds of migrants from mostly Asian countries — Afghanistan, China, Russia and others — who were deported from the U.S. arsenic portion of a wider effort by the Trump medication to ramp up deportations.

Many had hoped to question asylum successful the U.S. and expressed fearfulness implicit returning to their ain countries. Instead, they were dropped successful Costa Rica and Panama, wherever they don't talk the section language. The countries were primitively intended arsenic a benignant of deportation layover, but the migrants person present spent 50 days successful limbo.

Critics described it arsenic a mode for the U.S. to export its deportation process, portion quality rights groups person warned that the two countries were turning into a “black hole” for deportees.

In Costa Rica, astir 200 migrants, 81 of them children, were driven retired to a agrarian migrant processing halfway on the Costa Rica-Panama borderline and detained successful a erstwhile mill building.

The suit from the Global Strategic Litigation Council and different quality close groups was filed earlier the U.N. committee that monitors the implementation of the Convention connected the Rights of the Child connected Thursday night, and alleges that Costa Rica violated the convention.

Silvia Serna Roman, 1 of the attorneys filing the suit, said the migrants were held successful detention without ineligible status, with nary entree to acquisition services oregon intelligence wellness services successful their autochthonal language. It has fueled interest the semipermanent impacts that extended detention could person connected the children arsenic galore parents person reported their children appearing isolated oregon sad.

“The kids are successful a precise important portion of their development, and they are each fleeing analyzable contexts successful their countries. And present they’re subjected to detention for different, but agelong periods of clip and inhumane treatment,” Serna Roman said Friday. “The parents are concerned.”

Serna Roman said migrants person had small entree to ineligible counsel. The Costa Rican authorities has said migrants could permission the detention installation if they hold to instrumentality to their countries of root oregon question asylum successful Costa Rica.

But the lawyer said galore families fearfulness they would person obscurity to spell and perchance extremity up connected the street, truthful they've remained successful “indefinite detention" successful the installation known arsenic CATEM.

“Many radical are acrophobic to permission CATEM due to the fact that astatine slightest it means shelter, means 3 meals a day, means a extortion implicit their heads," Serna Roman said. “The Costa Rican authorities hasn’t been upfront astir however they program to further support these people."

The Associated Press has repeatedly been denied entree to the detention installation since the migrants arrived, but erstwhile journalists visited the campy successful 2023, families were sleeping connected cardboard oregon successful tents connected the crushed wherever immoderate accidental liquid from portable toilets leaks with sparse food.

Costa Rican officials person disputed reports by the country’s Ombudsman’s Office that the deportees arrived successful Costa Rica successful disposable distress and that authorities failed to warrant due conditions for arriving deportees.

Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said successful February that successful accepting the Asian migrants, his state was “helping the economically almighty member to the north.”

The suit by GSLC and section quality rights groups is conscionable the latest successful a fig of ineligible fights that person popped up surrounding deportees sent to Central American countries. The aforesaid radical of lawyers filed a akin lawsuit against Panama, which was holding migrants successful hotels and successful distant camps adjacent the Darien Gap, wherever deportees said they were stripped of their phones. Sharp criticisms prompted the Panamanian authorities to merchandise the migrants connected the streets of Panama City past month, leaving galore migrants to fend for themselves.

Most recently, the deportation of groups of Venezuelan migrants and an American national to El Salvador, wherever they person been held successful a precocious information situation for gangs, with small grounds to enactment alleged pack affiliations has besides fueled ineligible battles and fierce governmental fights.

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