A court on Tuesday ordered Costa Rican authorities to release foreign migrants locked up in a shelter after being deported by the United States, according to a resolution issued on the eve of a visit by the US secretary of homeland security.
Some 200 migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Russia as well as from Africa and some other Asian countries, including 80 children, were brought to the Central American nation in February under an agreement with the US administration of President Donald Trump, a move criticized by human rights organizations.
By partially accepting an appeal filed in March on behalf of the migrants, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice gave immigration 15 days to process the "determination of the immigration status of the deportees" and their release, according to the resolution seen by AFP.
The migrants were detained in February at the Temporary Migrant Care Center (CATEM), 360 kilometers (220 miles) south of San Jose, on the border with Panama.
However, in the face of criticism, the government allowed them to move freely outside the center in April.
Some accepted voluntary repatriation but about 28 of them remain at CATEM, 13 of them minors, according to official data.
The habeas corpus petition continued until it was resolved Tuesday, and would serve as a precedent to prevent a similar agreement.
The court also ordered Costa Rican authorities to "determine what type of health, education, housing, and general social assistance they require from the State."
The resolution was published one day before a visit by US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who will meet with President Rodrigo Chaves and tour the Los Lagos temporary immigration detention center.
In March, an Afghan woman behind bars at CATEM told AFP she had fled her country because she wanted to study and work and not be forced to live with a man.
She said if she was forced to return to Afghanistan, "the Taliban will kill her."
The Taliban authorities' crackdown on women's rights has led to the arbitrary arrest and detention of many women and girls in Afghanistan.
In addition to Costa Rica, Trump sent 300 deportees, mostly Asians, to Panama and 252 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador, accused without evidence of being members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
They were imprisoned in a Salvadoran mega-prison for gang members.