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Latin Times
Latin Times
Politics
Mateo Moreno

22,000 Deported, 26 Countries: Inside the Panama–Costa Rica Deportation Pipeline

Indian migrants, with their hands handcuffed, climb a plane at Panamá Pacífico International Airport in Veracruz, Panama, on September 6, 2024, during their deportation. (Credit: Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI / AFP) (Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images)

  • More than 22,000 people have been sent from the U.S. to at least 26 nations that aren't their own since February 2025, according to a tracker from the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

  • Panama and Costa Rica have become the system's two busiest transit points, together absorbing hundreds of deportees a month under agreements that remain largely undisclosed.
  • A Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority report found the administration paid at least $32.3 million to five governments — a fraction of the deals it has pursued with more than 50 countries overall.

A Removal System Built Outside Normal Channels

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