Thousands of immigrants have been arriving for several weeks at the crossing from Colombia on their way to the north. According to an official up-to-date figure, over 320,000 migrants have made their way through this crossing point.

Faced with this situation, the President of Costa Rica signed an executive decree, just a few days ago, in which it declares the current migration crisis a National Emergency.

The decree allows the National Emergency Commission to take a series of administrative, operational and economic measures, and work with quicker procedures to support the work of institutions related to the protection of families already at the borders.

The Temporary Care Center for Migrants was set up in the municipality of Corredores, near the border, where the migrants are brought in on buses from Panama, in order to prevent them from wandering in the streets of the communities.

Panama and Costa Rica are applying a controlled flow strategy, which implies that migrants take buses at their borders, which must be paid for by the travelers, so as to be taken directly to the border with Costa Rica, in the case of Panama, and with Nicaragua, in the case of Costa Rica.

Many of the migrants must wait to have the 30 dollars that transportation costs a person, in order to continue their route, which is why they gather in the southern area of Costa Rica waiting for a bank transfer or to obtain the money for each of their family members, through informal work.

According to data from the Directorate of Immigration and Immigration of Costa Rica, between 2,500 and 3,000 persons cross daily the border with Panama.

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