Trump turning Central America into major transit route for US migrants
3 Min Read
Threats to retake the Panama Canal or impose tariffs have prompted a flurry of agreements between Washington and Central American governments.
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A Venezuelan migrant carries her son as they wait to board a boat departing from Panama's Caribbean coastal village of Miramar to the border with Colombia on February 27, 2025. (AP)
Central America has been a key source of immigration and a major transit route for migrants heading to the US, contributing to a record number of arrivals at the border; a shift that contributed to the supposed crisis that helped Donald Trump win the election this past November.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump pressured Central American leaders to support his strict immigration policies, forcing their countries to shelter immigrants the US could not deport.
Ana María Méndez-Dardón, Central America director at the Washington Office on Latin America, described Trump's first term as "transactional logic", marked by a "logic of threats and imposition."
Threats to retake the Panama Canal or impose tariffs have prompted a flurry of agreements between Washington and Central American governments with little to gain from collaboration but potentially a lot to lose.
Marcela Martino, deputy director for the Center for Justice and International Law, says the new order pressures countries into actions they cannot refuse.
Hundreds of Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants have been deported to Panama and Costa Rica as part of an experiment criticized for its lack of transparency and potential rights violations.
Martino highlights that while shelters and humanitarian aid are mentioned, the immigrants are detained without the option to leave or the guarantee of the right to request asylum.
Lawyers and independent human rights organizations have been refused access to the shelters, and migrants' telephones and passports have reportedly been seized by officials.
During Trump's first term, his government sought to outsource the asylum process by signing so-called safe third-country agreements with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. This time, however, he has completely shut down the asylum system and is seeking to utilize Central American countries as staging grounds for migrants whose countries of origin do not have diplomatic connections with Washington or refuse to accept deportation planes.
Under pressure from Trump's dispute over its canal, Panama became the first country to receive immigrants from the US on February 13, when a military jet brought in 119 individuals. Since then, hundreds more from Afghanistan, Iran, China, and Pakistan have been deported to Panama and Costa Rica. While some have agreed to return home, 128 of 299 immigrants in Panama refused.
The US has agreed to subsidize the expense of sheltering immigrants overseas, but it is unknown how long this will last - and whether this is merely the beginning of a much greater movement 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," Martino went on.
The presidents of Panama and Costa Rica have depicted the deportees' presence as transitory. However, if the numbers increase and the stays are extended, they and other governments implementing the bridge agreements may be forced to make a tough decision between remaining in Trump's good graces and avoiding domestic reaction.
"It's difficult to understand to what extent governments are willing to accept these types of conditions and how this will impact domestic narratives," Martino said.
