Additional Context: As of March 2025, Costa Rica hosted more than 194,000 Nicaraguan asylum seekers and 9,216 recognized refugees – accounting for more than half of all forcibly displaced Nicaraguans worldwide. Costa Rica has also served as a transit country for large movements of migrants and people seeking safety who, over the past few years, arrived in the country after crossing through the Darien region between Panama and Colombia, and were on their way to the United States. Costa Rica is now receiving large numbers of people who were waiting in Mexico to enter the United States and have now been forced to return south. Many of these people have extremely limited resources (having used all of their resources to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border) and are now more reliant on organizations for support and assistance.

This information can be found in Amnesty International's report "Lives at Risk: Chaotic and Abrupt Cuts to Foreign Aid Put Millions of Lives at Risk." The analysis is principally based on public documents, including court filings and executive orders, news and civil society reports, and legal frameworks carried out between January and May 2025. The authors also conducted 43 interviews, and integrated ongoing communication with NGOs, international organizations, public health specialists, and aid workers.

Source: Amnesty International