New York: More than 100 illegal migrants are entering the small Central American country of Costa Rica every day, looking for "coyotes" to take them across the Nicaraguan border and on to the United States, Costa Rican President Luis Solis says.
Eighty-five per cent of the new arrivals were from Haiti by way of Brazil, where many settled after Haiti's 2010 earthquake but whose construction jobs had disappeared now the Rio Olympics were over and the country wallowed in recession, Solis said on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
"The phenomenon has shifted quite significantly," Solis said.
His government has set up centres that offer the migrants basic shelter and food, before they take the day-long bus trip through Costa Rica to the Nicaraguan frontier. Nicaragua does not allow the migrants to enter, so they are forced into the world of "coyotes", or illegal guides, often linked to criminal gangs.
Solis said the 15 per cent of arrivals who were not Haitians were Cubans as well as Africans and Asians who made their way across the Atlantic to Brazil and then trudged through Colombia and Panama to get to Costa Rica.
"Migration is a global phenomenon and it is not new. But something unexpected is happening, a refurbished flow of migrants is on the move in Latin America," Solis said.
So far, he said, Costa Rica could handle the inflow and outflow of migrants passing through the country.
The United States, however, responding to a surge in Haitian immigrants, would end special protections for them dating back to the devastating 2010 earthquake, the US Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday.
"What if they start deciding to stay on in Costa Rica after hearing that the United States has changed its tolerance policy and is going to start deporting them?" Solis said. "That's a concern."
More than 5000 Haitians have entered the United States without visas this fiscal year through October 1, according to officials, up from 339 in fiscal year 2015.
Panama's president, Juan Carlos Varela, said this week Haiti's economy and democracy had to be fortified to staunch the rapid outflow of people from the impoverished country.
In February Michel Martelly stepped down as president of Haiti without a successor. New elections are scheduled for October 9.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull last week told the United Nations last week, Australia's intake of almost 19,000 refugees per year and will now include a component of people from the region.
Reuters
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