Why have Costa Rica and Panama agreed to take Asians deported by Trump?

United States President Donald Trump‘s administration has deported thousands of undocumented immigrants since taking office last month, in a crackdown that critics argue is violating immigrants’ rights to due process.

During his first month in office, the Trump administration has deported 37,660 people, according to data from the US Department of Homeland Security, often to their country of origin, but sometimes to third countries.

Several Central American countries have accepted deportation flights. While their own citizens form a bulk of those coming from the US, these nations have also allowed the Trump administration to send nationals of other, mostly Asian, countries, including India, Pakistan and Iran. Last week, about 300 deportees arrived in Panama and more than 100 arrived in Costa Rica, the two countries said. The US has released no official details about the number of flights and exact number of immigrants.

But why is Trump sending deportees to third countries instead of their countries of origin? And why are these countries accepting the deportees?

Which third countries are accepting deportation flights from the US?

Last week, Panama became the first country to accept 119 deportees from other countries.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said on February 13 that the migrants were from countries including China, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mulino said it was the first of an expected three flights, and about 360 such deportees are expected to arrive in Panama.

Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego said on February 18 that 299 foreign deportees were being detained in a hotel, indicating more deportees had arrived in Panama since the first flight landed the previous week. These migrants were from 10 countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China.

At least 135 people, including children, from Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan and Russia arrived in Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose, on February 20.

The US transported 177 Venezuelan migrants from its military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Honduras on February 20. From there, Venezuelan authorities flew them on to Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, on flag carrier Conviasa.

Tanya Golash-Boza, the executive director of the University of California Washington Center, said while she has not seen an official explanation for why migrants are being sent to third countries, it is “reasonable to assume that DHS (Department of Homeland Security) is doing this because their detention centres are full”.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities have a 38,521-bed capacity, but are detaining close to 42,000 migrants, CBS News reported, citing internal DHS data. Amid a recent uptick in migrant arrests, ICE has released some immigrants early this month, CBS reported.

Golash-Boza told Al Jazeera that once the migrants leave US soil, “they lose access to any semblance of rights they may have had due to their presence in the US.”

Mittelstadt explained that deportees sent to third countries do not have protections under US law. She added that in the third countries, international standards of protection, “including non-refoulement”, may not be upheld. Non-refoulement is a principle of international law that forbids a country from sending an individual back to a nation they fled if that place is unsafe for them.

When it comes to deportees from countries that the US does not have strong formal diplomatic ties with, these Central American nations serve another purpose for the Trump administration.

ICE has previously cited countries including India, Pakistan and China as “uncooperative”, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he is “fully prepared” to take back undocumented immigrants, during a White House visit in February.

According to Smith, there were 195 migrants being held at Guantanamo, of which 177 were sent to Venezuela and one was sent to the US, with 17 remaining in the facility.

Smith had told Al Jazeera that the detainees at Guantanamo “have all the legal rights of [US] residents there, including the entire Constitution and the right to a proper court”.

He recently said the Trump administration is taking people to the detention centre to scare them.

“It is the most notorious torture prison in the world – whereupon they will offer fewer objections to leaving and going back, ultimately, to their home countries,” he said. “The Trump administration is trying to get people out of Guantanamo before we have time to get them into proper courts.”

During his first term between 2019 and 2020, Trump sent immigrants on a flight to Guatemala, but this operation was halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many human rights organisations have opposed placing migrants in countries to which they had no connection.

Pro-immigrant rights groups, including the US civil rights nonprofit, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), sued Trump over this plan. Trump’s first term ended before the case was resolved and the case was put on hold while the Biden administration altered the government’s policies.