Trump is making Central America become a dumping ground for US immigrants

Central America has long been a source of immigrants, and in recent years, it’s also become a major transit route for those from around the world heading to the United States.

That shift led to record numbers of immigrants arriving at the US border, and contributed to the supposed crisis that helped Donald Trump win the election this past November.

Now, little more than a month since his inauguration day, Trump is strong-arming Central American leaders into collaborating with his hardline immigration agenda, forcing their countries to act as a dumping ground for immigrants that the United States can’t simply deport back to their home countries.

“In Trump’s first term, it was said that it was a transactional logic,” said Ana María Méndez-Dardón, Central America director for the Washington Office on Latin America. “In this case, I would say that it’s one of imposition, a logic of threats.”

The threats, such as to take back the Panama canal or impose tariffs, have forced a flurry of deals between Washington and Central American countries that have little to gain from cooperation, but potentially much to lose.

“It’s clear that there’s a new order of relations in this matter where things are demanded of countries that are not in a position to refuse,” said Marcela Martino, deputy director of Central America and Mexico for the Center for Justice and International Law.

Caught in the middle are hundreds of immigrants from Asia and the Middle East who have been deported to Panama and Costa Rica as part of an experiment of sorts that observers say lacks transparency and could violate their rights.

“There is talk of shelters and humanitarian assistance, but the truth is that these people are detained with no option of leaving and with no certainty that they are guaranteed at least the right to request asylum,” said Martino.

Lawyers and independent human rights organizations have been denied access to the shelters and the migrants have reportedly had their cellphones and passports confiscated by officials.

During Trump’s first term, his administration attempted to outsource the asylum process through so-called safe third country agreements with Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, but only the agreement with the last country was briefly implemented before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This time around, the Trump administration has shut down the asylum system entirely and is attempting to turn Central American countries into a staging ground or for migrants whose countries of origin lack diplomatic relations with Washington or refuse to accept deportation flights.

On 13 February, Panama – under immense pressure due to a dispute manufactured by Trump over its famous canal – became the first country to receive immigrants from the US under this new strategy when it received a military plane carrying 119 people.

Since then, hundreds more immigrants from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, China, Pakistan and others have been deported to Panama and Costa Rica. While some have agreed to be transported onward to their home countries, others have refused, including 128 of the 299 immigrants that arrived in Panama.

These immigrants have fallen into a legal limbo with an uncertain future, epitomized by a viral photo of a young Iranian migrant who scrawled “help” on the window of a Panama City hotel where she and family members were temporarily held before being transported to a remote shelter in the Darién Gap – far from the cameras.

Versions of these bridge agreements, which often include increased border security, have also been agreed upon with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras – with the third country facilitating the transfer of 177 Venezuelan migrants who had been held at Guantánamo military base and were immediately boarded on a plane back home upon arriving at a joint Honduras-US air force base outside Tegucigalpa.

The United States has agreed to cover the cost of sheltering the immigrants abroad, but it is unclear for how long – and if this is only the beginning of a much larger movement yet to come.

“We don’t know what the plans are, whether it’s to see what happens with this, whether it’s to be able to receive others, whether this is an example to replicate in other countries,” said Martino.

The presidents of Panama and Costa Rica have portrayed the arrival of the deportees as only temporary. But if the numbers grow and the stays become prolonged, they and other leaders who implement the bridge agreements could be forced to make a difficult calculation between staying in the good graces of Trump while avoiding domestic backlash.

“It’s difficult to understand to what extent governments are willing to accept these types of conditions and how this will impact domestic narratives,” said Martino.