The President of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, declared this Friday that they will “correct” the immigration decree on refugee applications, after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of that country ruled in favor of a Nicaraguan journalist who filed an appeal habeas corpus against these presidential decrees, specifically due to the restriction on leaving the country.
“I understand that the judges, in that particular dimension, declare it unconstitutional. Well, we will correct the decree or we will see what the resolution of the Chamber is; It is not the end of the world, ”said the president, who confessed that he has not yet read the resolution of the Chamber on the decree.
After Chaves ruled in November 2022 that his government would not accept more economic migrants, he promoted two decrees with restrictive measures, including that all refugee applicants cannot leave the country under any circumstances.
The Nicaraguan journalist requested in December, when he was an applicant, to leave the country for work reasons, but the General Directorate of Migration and Immigration denied him permission, alleging article 59, amended by decree No. 4381-MGP in force since 1 December 2022.
“Under no circumstances will the travel of refugee applicants be authorized outside the national territory, either to their country of origin or to a third country, since this implies the real non-existence of the need for international protection on the part of of the Costa Rican state. Exiting the de facto country will imply the tacit abandonment of the process and the filing of the corresponding administrative file”, dictates article 59.
Chaves insists that people “take advantage” must be stopped
The president pointed out that it costs the government between 200 to 300 million dollars to maintain thousands of refugee applicants, many of whom are economic migrants who took advantage of this process to obtain the work permit that Migration delivered, almost expeditiously. . “(They are) what I call: refugee claims takers,” he said.
Chaves said that the decrees came to put “order” and “cover many things of an enormous problem” that the Central American country has faced for years, referring to economic migrants who have requested international protection from the Costa Rican government.
“For years many people have abused the generosity of the people of Costa Rica to grant refuge to people who need it (…) we will continue trying to order immigration to our country,” Chaves said.
The Costa Rican magistrates consider that the transit restriction (exiting the country) imposed by the Government of Costa Rica is “contrary to the human rights of migrants.”
