Nicaraguans Head Home For Semana Santa
Of the estimated that 800.000 Nicaraguan nationals who live and work in Costa Rica, 43.000 is the estimate by officials of Nicaraguans who will legally cross the border at Peñas Blancas during Semana Santa.

Semana Santa and Christmas are two major holidays for Nicaraguans travel to their home country.

The Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería de Nicaragua (DGME) - Nicaraguan immigration department - confirmed the wave of Nicas coming back from various countries, with the highest percentage from Costa Rica.

Border control points have been reinforced to control the movement, especially of illegals moving across the border between the two countries, an occurrence that intensifies during the holidays.

Authorities are concerned of the increased volume of trafficking of minors that can occur, mixing in with the large number of people moving to and from the two countries.

Controlling the number of undocumented is also another priority of Costa Rican immigration authorities as tens of thousands are presumed to cross in some illegal form along the Nicaraguan-Costa Rican border.

In addition to the border control points, there are a number of control points along the road between Peñas Blancas and Liberia, where vehicles are pulled over for a visual inspection of passengers. Trucks are a popular way of moving undocumented to destinations in San José.

This year, in addition to the permanent control points, officials say there will be additional mobile control points at strategic locations. The aim to stop the illegal movement.

Transnica, the largest of of several bus companies moving people to and from Nicaragua, reports that all their buses are full. The company had to add more buses to the Nicaragua-Costa Rica route.

The company expects the high volume to continue for the next week. During the next few days the volume is for people heading north. Come next week, the volume reverses as Nicaraguans head back for Costa Rica.