➡ From Child Welfare Information Gateway NJ:
US: This U.S. Program Meant To Help Central American Refugees Is Leaving Most In Danger
Huffington Post – January 17, 2017
The U.S. State Department announced a new program called the Protection Transfer Agreement. Under the PTA, the U.S. is supposed to pre-screen vulnerable applicants and transfer those with the greatest need to Costa Rica, where they can wait in safety while their refugee cases are processed, before being resettled to the U.S. or another country. The program is designed to house 200 people at a time for six-month periods in Costa Rica and is being piloted with Salvadoran applicants. Preemptively relocating potential refugees to a midway point this way is a somewhat novel approach. Some have advocated for a similar initiative in response to the European migrant crisis. But as of November, it appeared only one Salvadoran family had been relocated through the program, several sources close to the situation told The WorldPost.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/central-american-migrant-crisis_us_587016a7e4b02b5f8588e5d9