By Wendy Anders

The Minister of Communication Mauricio Herrera recently reported that Costa Rica returned 1,200 Cubans who were found in the country without legal documentation to Panama last year.

He added that in January this year 120 additional undocumented Cubans were returned to Panama, and said he wished to make clear to all Cubans that Costa Rica was not open to receiving undocumented Cubans nor has the resources to shelter them or facilitate their travels north.

Costa Rica tightened its border controls after a surge of an estimated 8,000 Cubans entered the country over the course of a year starting in early 2015.

The exodus of people from the Caribbean island largely seemed fueled by a desire to take advantage of a historically favorable U.S. immigration policy towards Cubans before potential changes were made to those laws with the opening of diplomatic relations between the countries, according to media.

Fortunately, Costa Rica received assistance to aid this unanticipated wave of Cubans on their passage to the U.S. To avoid repeating this complicated undocumented migrant situation from repeating, Costa Rica has tightened its southern border controls.

Herrera said in a report to La Prensa Libre, a Costa Rican daily, that human trafficking networks and undocumented Cuban migrants continue to use Central America as a transit bridge to North America.

At least 100 undocumented Cubans are currently being held in shelters in Costa Rica, said Herrera, some of which, after their cases are studied, may be sent to a third country, as Costa Rica’s Constitutional Court has forbidden these migrants be returned to Cuba.