Costa Rica announced Thursday that it will accept up to 25 migrants per week deported from the United States under a new agreement aimed at facilitating third-country removals.

The deal, signed earlier this week during a visit by U.S. envoy Kristi Noem, allows the United States to transfer foreign nationals who are not Costa Rican citizens to the Central American country. Costa Rica described the arrangement as a nonbinding migration agreement and said it retains the authority to accept or reject individual cases.

Public Security Minister Mario Zamora Cordero said the country is prepared to handle the incoming flow, adding that migrants will be processed under Costa Rican law through a special migratory status. Officials also stated that deportees will not be returned to countries where they could face persecution.

Costa Rica joins a growing list of countries, including Honduras, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Guyana, that have agreed to accept third-country deportees as the U.S. expands efforts to remove migrants who cannot easily be returned to their home nations.

The policy is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to secure international cooperation on immigration enforcement. U.S. officials have framed the agreements as a way to ensure that individuals in the country illegally are ultimately returned to their nations of origin.

The arrangement comes after prior controversy in Costa Rica, where hundreds of deportees from countries including Russia, China, and Afghanistan were held in a rural detention facility last year. The situation led to legal challenges and a court-ordered release, with some migrants later receiving temporary permission to remain in the country.

Costa Rican officials said conditions for future deportees will improve and that the government plans to coordinate with international organizations to manage housing and repatriation. Specific details on detention locations and timelines have not yet been released.

The Trump administration has continued to pursue such agreements, allocating tens of millions of dollars toward relocation efforts as part of its immigration enforcement strategy.