Immigrants Rights – Economic, Equality and Human Dignity

Costa Rica, with a current population of around 4 million people, and with over one million immigrants — legal and otherwise — living within its borders is growing faster through immigration than it is through births to natural born Costa Ricans.

For a fortunate few, legal residency in Costa Rica is a privilege complicated perhaps only by some slight inconveniences caused by the necessity of complying with a few laws and the pesky nuisance of having to make regular monthly deposits in a Costa Rican bank.

For hundreds of thousands more who are not so privileged, however, like those from Nicaragua, Columbia, Haiti, and Honduras, immigrating to Costa Rica is not so easy and is frequently a matter of life and death.

The United Nation Treaty on Immigration, to which Costa Rica is a party, declares that people not only have the right to move freely inside their own countries in order to secure a better life for themselves and their families, but also to immigrate into another country in order to escape hunger, poverty, persecution or other threats to their survival. These are things that often make immigration a necessity not just an amenity.

Most people from North America do not really have a clue what this means because they have never been faced with the necessity of leaving their homeland out of want or fear. But one can get an idea by taking a look around at the poorest neighborhoods in San José, which is where the vast majority of the immigrant population resides. These people have very little, but they usually feel they are generally better off here than they were back home.

Consider, if you will, a mother who leaves her children in the care of a neighbor, or perhaps even a total stranger, in order to go out and clean houses for the equivalent $1 US. an hour, but still considers herself and her family better off than they were back in say Managua, then you will begin to understand life from these people’s perspective

Costa Ricans often resent Nicaraguan immigrants for many different reasons, but I would almost be willing to bet the real, if unspoken, basis for this resentment is because they do not have enough money to live up to Tico standards.

The situation is vastly different for those who come to Costa Rica from what is known as the global north, meaning the United States, Canada and Europe. People who emigrate here from these areas buy houses, businesses, and often vast tracts of land. You can easily see that what emerges is a immigrant class structure based entirely upon wealth

I will never forget reading in the local newspaper a report of a woman who had been living in Costa Rica for many years without ever filing for immigration status, leaving the country for thirty-six hours every three months, as is required of non-residents, or even bothering to renew her visa.

Once, however, she made the mistake of boarding an inter-city bus that was crowded with Nicaraguans. The bus was stopped by police, and everyone was asked to produce their identification. Those whose IDs had expired or who did not have any valid identification at all were arrested. The woman in question was among those taken into custody. But she protested indignantly and vigorously screaming, “I’m not one of them! I’m an AMERICAN!”

Current immigration law specifies that new comers are welcome only if they do not displace nationals from their jobs. Under certain circumstances they can work at jobs for which no Costa Rican employee can be found. In any case, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights applies to every one residing in Costa Rica, regardless of their immigrant status.

I personally find the designation “illegal alien” rather offensive. To my mind it is like referring to a child born out of wedlock as “illegitimate.” It is degrading and an affront to human dignity. At the risk of being pegged with the cliché of “politically correct,” I will state that I much prefer the term “undocumented alien.”

We do have a growing immigration problem in this country, but it cannot all be laid at the feet of Nicaraguans. Another aspect of Costa Rica’s immigration problem is emerging because rich Americans, Canadians, and Europeans are coming in, buying up every inch of property with a view of the sea and then restricting Costa Ricans’ access to it. I must say that I do resent not being able to reserve a hotel room in Jocó Beach without also being able to speak English.

On a visit to Jacó a couple of years back the German and French owners of the hotel where we stayed were clearly annoyed at having a Costa Rican family among their guests and they didn’t try very hard to hide it. You won’t find too many Costa Ricans living in Jocó Beach, though many work there as waiters, cashiers and chambermaids. Most Costa Ricans live in the much poorer town of Jacó, well away from the beach and its affluent denizens.

Another often-ignored part of the problem is blatant exploitation of Nicaraguan immigrants by both Costa Ricans and rich foreign residents alike who pay them so poorly for an hours work. Even if a dollar an hour is better than the fifty cents they made back home it is by no means a living wage and every American as well as Costa Ricans knows it. How ironic it is, when we pay them such lousy wages and then turn round and blame them for being poor.

As far as changes that may be taking place in Costa Rican immigration law is concerned, following the U.S. model we can look for the statutes to become even more based directly upon income and personal wealth than they are now. Basically it boils down to “if you’ve got money we’d love to have you with us, if you don’t — drop dead.”

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Written by Jorge Mayorga is a concerned Costa Rican living in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.