Venezuelan migrant Gabriela Villanueva holds her daughter as she waits to board a boat to Colombia on Panama's Caribbean coastal island of Gardi Sugdub, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, after turning back from southern Mexico where they gave up hopes of reaching the U.S. amid President Trump's crackdown on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)2025-02-26T05:00:13Z MEXICO CITY (AP) Venezuelan migrants handed over to Mexico like its a U.S. immigration detention facility. Families from Central Asia flown to Panama and Costa Rica to await voluntary repatriation to their countries. Venezuelans from Guantanamo Bay handed off on a Honduran tarmac and returned to Caracas.It all sends the unmistakable message that trying to get to the U.S. border is no longer worth it. U.S. President Donald Trumps administration has laid the groundwork to reverse the regions migration flow. And while the numbers remain modest, an outline of how the U.S. hopes to overcome limited detention space as it gears up its deportation machine is emerging. Migrants wearing face masks and shackles on their hands and feet sit on a military aircraft at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Tx., Jan. 30, 2025, awaiting their deportation to Guatemala. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File) Migrants wearing face masks and shackles on their hands and feet sit on a military aircraft at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Tx., Jan. 30, 2025, awaiting their deportation to Guatemala. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Making deals across Latin AmericaIn its first month, the Trump administration has reached deals with Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama to act as stopovers or destinations for migrants expelled from the U.S. It has brokered deals with Venezuela to pick up its people in Texas, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Honduras.But none of the agreements have been detailed for the public, raising concerns about evading international protections for refugees and asylum-seekers. Adam Isacson, a researcher with the Washington-based human rights advocacy organization WOLA, suspects many were little more than improvised handshake deals. They were requests made while Trump threatened tariffs and to take back the Panama Canal. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved through the region while U.S. foreign aid was suspended, bestowing exemptions when merited. A migrant peers through the window of a plane carrying Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States after it landed at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez) A migrant peers through the window of a plane carrying Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States after it landed at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Trump made deals during his first presidency with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to take in asylum-seekers, though only Mexico and Guatemala actually received them.But the agreements in his second term are more varied, ranging from Honduras letting Venezuelans get off a U.S. plane and board a Venezuelan one in its territory last week, to El Salvador offering to imprison deportees and even U.S. citizen prisoners. Theyre being much more ambitious now, Isacson said. The idea of sending people to be warehoused like goods, to deport them to third countries wasnt an issue in Trumps first term.The numbers remain relatively small, but images of deportees deplaning in shackles and deportees holding up signs asking for help in the Panama hotel where theyre held are powerful. A migrant deported from the United States stands in a hotel room in Panama City, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File) A migrant deported from the United States stands in a hotel room in Panama City, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Shock and awe to get things startedThis is still a preliminary phase because Congress has not approved a new budget, Isacson said. While theyre at that lowest level of resources they are doing all of the shock and awe possible, he said. The idea is to scare them.Now the migration flow that is visible is of deportations and migrants boarding boats in Panama to take them south to Colombia rather than migrants riding trains north through Mexico or massing at the U.S. border.In just a month, Mexico has received more than 3,300 foreign deportees, who advocates say were from at least seven nationalities. Venezuelan migrants arrive at Panamas Caribbean coastal island of in Gardi Sugdub, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, to board boats to Colombia after giving up hopes of reaching the U.S. while in southern Mexico as President Trump cracks down on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Venezuelan migrants arrive at Panamas Caribbean coastal island of in Gardi Sugdub, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, to board boats to Colombia after giving up hopes of reaching the U.S. while in southern Mexico as President Trump cracks down on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More A number of them carried unusual U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents that read: Reason for transfer: removal. Name of new facility (immigration): MEXICO. They appear to have nothing to do with the Remain in Mexico program from Trumps first term that made asylum-seekers wait out the U.S. process from Mexico. President Claudia Sheinbaum has said little about Mexicos participation other than highlighting her administrations willingness to cooperate. The U.S. Department of State has praised Mexico for receiving deportation flights and for returning migrants from elsewhere to their countries.Farther south the numbers are smaller, but the imagery has been stronger. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum greets guests as she arrives for a Housing for Wellbeing even, in Mexico City, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum greets guests as she arrives for a Housing for Wellbeing even, in Mexico City, Feb. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Panama, a bridge in the other directionPanama, where more than 500,000 migrants passed en route to the U.S. border in 2023, suddenly became a bridge this month for U.S. efforts to deport asylum seekers. Nearly 300 U.S. deportees from 10 mostly Asian countries were held in a Panama City hotel. Some put signs to their windows that read Help and We are not save (sic) in our country.About one-third of those in the hotel who refused to voluntarily return to their countries were then sent to a remote camp back in the very jungle they had probably crossed in the other direction. One deportee in the camp told The Associated Press they were not informed of their rights and werent told how long they would be in the camp, which concerned her because of its poor conditions. Luis Sanchez, center, sits with other Venezuelan migrants on a boat leaving Gardi Sugdub on Panamas Caribbean coast, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after giving up hopes of reaching the U.S. while in southern Mexico amid President Trumps crackdown on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Luis Sanchez, center, sits with other Venezuelan migrants on a boat leaving Gardi Sugdub on Panamas Caribbean coast, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, after giving up hopes of reaching the U.S. while in southern Mexico amid President Trumps crackdown on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Similar flights landed in Costa Rica last week and they were sent to a remote facility that had also previously received migrants headed north.In addition to those flights, 50 to 75 migrants are moving south through Costa Rica on their own daily, according to Omer Badilla, Costa Ricas vice minister of the interior.He raised the possibility of Panama and Colombia getting involved to organize boat trips south for migrants. On Tuesday, Panama Security Minister Frank Abrego said that boats were carrying migrants south with the full knowledge of regional authorities, but he added that they were irregular arrangements made with boat captains. Panama and Costa Rica say U.N. agencies are assisting with the repatriations and that the U.S. government is paying. The International Organization for Migration said that it was helping authorities provide basic services and facilitating voluntary repatriations when it is safe to do so.With the old flow (south to north) the situation is pretty under control, Panamanian President Jos Ral Mulino said Thursday. That shows that now the problem is coming in the opposite direction and we hope that can be managed in an orderly fashion. Venezuelan migrants play dominoes in Puerto Carti, on Panamas Caribbean coast, Feb. 22, 2025, where they plan to board boats to Colombia after turning back from southern Mexico where they gave up hopes of reaching the U.S. amid President Trumps crackdown on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Venezuelan migrants play dominoes in Puerto Carti, on Panamas Caribbean coast, Feb. 22, 2025, where they plan to board boats to Colombia after turning back from southern Mexico where they gave up hopes of reaching the U.S. amid President Trumps crackdown on migration. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More Concerns about vulnerable migrantsEven with the involvement of U.N. agencies, concerns abound about vulnerable migrants being passed from country to country and even sent back to countries they fled.Advocates worry the U.S. may be using third countries to deport migrants from countries where the U.S. may not have diplomatic relations or strained ones, to get around constraints in international law that are supposed to prevent people from being sent back to places they would not be safe.Gretchen Kuhner, director of IMUMI, a nongovernmental legal services organization in Mexico, said recently a flight carrying Venezuelans from the United States to Venezuela made a stop in Cancun. But IMUMI wasnt able to speak with the migrants aboard directly to know if they wanted to try to request asylum in Mexico while in the countrys territory.Isacson said among the Venezuelans sent back to that country have been people who deserted the armed forces, who would now be in the hands of the military. The risks could be even more dire for some migrants from Iran and Afghanistan.The regions governments are understandably sensitive about appearing to be aiding in Trumps deportation efforts, but Isacson said transparency will better shield them from those criticisms. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, meets with President Nayib Bukele at his residence at Lake Coatepeque, El Salvador, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, meets with President Nayib Bukele at his residence at Lake Coatepeque, El Salvador, Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File) Share Share Copy Link copied Email Facebook X Reddit LinkedIn Pinterest Flipboard Print Read More ___Associated Press journalist Juan Zamorano in Panama City contributed to this report.___Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america