Over the course of 20 days from March 10th to March 30th the Nicaraguan Army captured 528 undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens) who had entered Nicaragua via one of a number of clandestine routes, usually simply walking across an unmarked border. The migrants originated from Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, Central America and Europe.
Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America has two land borders. In the north with Honduras the border is 922 kilometers (573 miles) long. In the south, the “Frontera” with Costa Rica is 309 kilometers (192 miles) long. Also, Nicaragua has two coastlines with a combined length of 910 kilometers (565 miles).
The entire Central American isthmus attracts thousands of undocumented migrants every year, all with the same goal, trying to reach the United States. The region extends from the southern part of Mexico to Colombia in the northwest of South America and includes the countries of; Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. It is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Caribbean Sea on the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the north.
The 4th Regional Military Command and the South Military Detachment of the “Ejercito de Nicaragua” (the Military is a combined Army, Navy and Air Force unit) are involved in policing the border with Costa Rica. Between January 1st and March 10th the military of Nicaragua had already captured 1,166 undocumented foreigners.
“Operation Containment Wall” is the ongoing operation to prevent transnational crime such as drug trafficking, organized crime and human trafficking. However, the illegal aliens are often caught up in the operation, discovered in the same areas and using the same routes.
Meanwhile, at the border with Panama, the Costa Rica Border Police are mounting similar patrols with the same objective as Nicaragua; keeping the undocumented and illegal aliens from entering their country from Panama and moving north until they get captured and then having to deal with them when Nicaragua sends them back.
In addition, Costa Rica patrols their side of the nearly 200 mile border with Nicaragua (which has remained closed to Nicaraguan visitors for over a year now) looking for Nicaraguans trying to get into Costa Rica.
