Sharon Day, the U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, clarified that her government has not asked Costa Rica to sign an immigration pact like the one he signed with Guatemala, which has unleashed strong criticism.
This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after a meeting on Tuesday by Foreign Minister Lorena Aguilar with the US diplomat.
See Trump Invites Costa Rica To Sign Immigration Agreement
“The representative of the North American country clarified that her government has not requested to add Costa Rica in the agreements that it negotiates with the Central American countries of the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala),” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The immigration agreement signed by Guatemala on July 26 obliges Salvadoran and Honduran migrants passing through Guatemala on their route to the United States, with the intention of receiving asylum, to first try to obtain it in Guatemala; otherwise, they will be ineligible for consideration and will be returned to Guatemala, now a “safe third country”.
There is also a backlog of people who have already made the journey and are now stuck at the US southern border.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the U.S. Ambassador thanked the actions of the Costa Rican government implemented “to address regional migration challenges.”
In addition, Day “highlighted the positive results of the intense bilateral cooperation” between Costa Rica and the United States in terms of security, which the U.S. Ambassador said she wanted to strengthen.
