Biden thanks Costa Rica for its incredible treatment of migrants

American President, Joe Bidenexpressed his gratitude to his Costa Rican colleague Rodrigo Chaves for the support that Costa Rica provides in migration management, especially in relation to to a large number of people going to the United States.

“Thank you for your cooperation in the immigration challenges that we face every day,” Biden said, addressing Chaves at the start of a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House and in the presence of the media.

Biden recalled that a year ago, both leaders signed the so-called The Los Angeles Declaration, which committed twenty countries of the American continent. open ways to welcome refugeesbut also to deport those who do not meet the conditions for asylum.

“You made that statement possible,” Biden told Chaves, also praising him “amazing” job you have done and thanked him for being a “great ally” on immigration issues.

Likewise, the US president expressed his desire to strengthen the alliance with Costa Rica in economy and security in order to face the rise of organized crime that caused the increase in the murder rate in that Central American country, which recorded a record of 656 murders in 2022 alone.

In addition to the Los Angeles Declaration, NOW The US and Costa Rica launched a six-month pilot program called “Movilidad Segura” in June.

This project seeks to offer legal pathways for migration to the United States for some of the Nicaraguans and Venezuelans They are among the 240,000 asylum seekers currently in the Central American country.

In addition to Costa Rica, the Biden administration created other pilots of that “Safe Mobility” program in Colombia to help Cubans, Haitians, and Venezuelans; and in Guatemala, with the goal of advising citizens of that country about their options for legal migration to the United States.

Costa Rica, with a population of about 5.1 million, has a complicated migration situation: it has become the main destination for Nicaraguans fleeing their country, plunged into a deep crisis since a wave of protests in 2018 in which hundreds of people called for the resignation of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, which ended with hundreds of dead, prisoners and missing.

In addition, Costa Rica is a transit route for those who have crossed the dangerous jungle Darien between Colombia and Panama and whose destination is the United States.