SAN JOSE — Costa Rica received a second group of migrants deported from the United States on Friday under a bilateral agreement signed in March by Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves and U.S. Special Envoy Kristi Noem. The agreement commits Costa Rica to accept up to 25 third-country nationals expelled from the U.S. each week in exchange for financial support from Washington.

The second group included 30 individuals: eight Costa Ricans, eight Brazilians, three Romanians, two Chinese nationals, three from Uzbekistan, two from Azerbaijan, one from Ireland, one from India, one from Vietnam, and one from Belarus. The first group of 25 deportees arrived at Juan Santamaría International Airport in San Jose on Saturday and was assisted by Costa Rican migration police in coordination with the International Organization for Migration. That group included migrants from Albania, Kenya, Morocco, China, India, Cameroon, eight from Guatemala, and four from Honduras.

Deportees are first taken to a hotel to receive assistance. The International Organization for Migration offers food and accommodation during the first seven days in the country.

During that initial week, deportees have the option to enroll in a voluntary return program, to stay in Costa Rica through a temporary migration program, or to request refugee status. The Assisted Voluntary Return program, administered by the International Organization for Migration, allows participants to return to their countries of origin, while others may apply for legal residency in Costa Rica under humanitarian categories through the standard process. If deportees choose to leave Costa Rica, they must inform local migration authorities and indicate whether they will need humanitarian support or will pay for the trip themselves.

In 2025, Costa Rica accepted up to 200 migrants deported by the U.S. and granted special migratory status to 85 who were unable to be repatriated to their home nations. A February report by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee estimated that the agreement costs more than $1 million in taxpayer money per deportee.

Dominica, Guyana, Honduras, Rwanda, St. Kitts and Nevis, and South Sudan have also signed agreements with the U.S. to accept third-country deportees.