Nicaraguans have been migrating to Costa Rica for decades. The two countries are historically and geographically tied together, with seasonal migration filling important jobs within the Costa Rican economy.
“There is an economic interdependence between the two countries,” Quxabel Cárdenas, coordinator of the Nicaraguan Links Association, tells The Progressive. “From agro-exportation to development of tourism services and domestic work, these are market niches that demand Nicaraguan labor.”
“All of these measures produce fear, and when the migrant is afraid, the number of coyotes increases and exploitation increases.”
But as the Nicaraguan administration of Daniel Ortega has taken increasingly authoritarian actions, Costa Rica, in addition to the United States, has become the destination for tens of thousands of Nicraguans fleeing the dictatorship.
It is estimated that approximately 150,000 Nicaraguans have fled the country since 2018, causing a large spike in applications for asylum in neighboring Costa Rica.
According to the U.N. Refugee Agency, asylum cases have doubled in the last eight months. Al Jazeera reports that Costa Rica’s number of asylum applicants increased from sixty-seven in 2017 to 59,450 asylum applicants in 2021, with 89 percent of those coming from Nicaraguans.
Nicaraguan migrants have faced many challenges in Costa Rica, including exploitation of their labor and discrimination.
“The discrimatory and xenophobic ire was directed against Nicaraguans,” Stephen Deal, regional director with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, tells The Progressive. “You can see it if you pay attention to media coverage. If some sort of crime was committed, they will always mention the nationality if a Nicaraguan was involved, that is ‘Nicaraguan immigrant’ is synonymous with ‘delinquency.’ ”
As the number of Nicaraguan migrants increased, Costa Rica saw the mobilization of small anti-immigrant marches, which blamed migrants—particularly Nicaraguan migrants—for the loss of jobs. But counter mobilizations drew larger numbers in defense of Nicaraguan migrants.
The target of anti-immigrant language has shifted in recent years as Costa Rica has seen an increase in migrants from other parts of the world.
In March, the Costa Rican government announced that it would be working with the Biden Administration to strengthen the country’s borders with neighboring Panama and Nicaragua. The U.N. Refugee Agency published a report in March acknowledging the massive increase in Venezuelan migrants heading north through the dangerous Darien Gap, which stretches from Colombia’s border with Panama to the north. The same route is used by migrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Africa.
Costa Rica’s announcement of new border security measures comes as countries in the region put in place new visa requirements to limit the flow of migrants. For example, Venezuelans now have to present a consular visa to enter the country—something that many lack.
In June, the Biden Administration is set to announce new measures, which could include asylum agreements with the governments of Costa Rica and Colombia. Under Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the United Kingdom has proposed a similar policy, routing immigrants that arrive by crossing the English Channel to the African country of Rwanda.
The Trump Administration attempted a similar response to the migration crisis, signing illegal asylum cooperation agreements to reroute Salvadoran and Honduran migrants to Guatemala, which lacks the capacity to receive asylum seekers.More than 900 migrants were sent to Guatemala before the agreements were suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But as the Biden Administration attempts to further limit the movement of people, advocates fear that this will only make it more dangerous for migrants.
“All of these measures produce fear,” Cárdenas tells The Progressive. “And when the migrant is afraid, two things increase: the number of coyotes increases and exploitation increases, that is, the power of employers to exploit as a result of fear in the face of control of the flow [of migrants].”
A U.S. State Department delegate is set to visit Panama April 19-20 to discuss migration.
While the new measures will not affect Nicaraguan migrants, they will continue to face exploitation of their labor as they remain key for the Costa Rican economy.
“This workforce is still needed, ”Cárdenas says. “By not making the levels of exploitation visible, they are normalized.”