PANAMA CITY — A group of migrants deported from the USA to Panama last week were moved on Tuesday night from a hotel in the capital to the Darien jungle region in southern Panama, a lawyer representing a migrant family told Reuters on Wednesday.
Susana Sabalza, a Panamanian migration lawyer, stated that the family she represents was transferred to Meteti, a town in the Darien, along with other deported migrants. La Estrella de Panama, a local daily, reported on Wednesday that 170 of the 299 migrants who had been in the hotel were moved to the Darien.
Panama’s government did not respond to a request for comment. The 299 migrants had been staying at a hotel in Panama City under the protection of local authorities and with financial support from the United States through the U.N.-related International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency, according to the Panamanian government.
The migrants comprise individuals from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, as noted by Panama’s president, Jose Raul Mulino. He has agreed with the USA to receive non-Panamanian deportees.
The deportation of non-Panamanian migrants to Panama is part of the Trump administration’s strategy to increase deportations of migrants living in the USA illegally. One challenge to Trump’s plan is that some migrants hail from countries that refuse to accept U.S. deportation flights, often due to strained diplomatic relations. The arrangement with Panama facilitates U.S. deportations of these nationalities, placing the responsibility on Panama to handle their onward repatriation.
This process has faced criticism from human rights groups concerned about the potential mistreatment of migrants and the risks they face if returned to violent or war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan. Sabalza expressed that she had not been able to visit her clients while they were held at the hotel and is seeking permission to meet them at their new location. She refrained from disclosing their nationality but indicated they were a Muslim family who “could be decapitated” if returned home.
Sabalza noted that the family would be applying for asylum in Panama or “any country that will receive them other than their own.” Mulino had previously stated that the migrants would be moved to a shelter in the Darien region, which includes the dense and lawless jungle that separates Central and South America, a region that has become a corridor for hundreds of thousands of migrants aiming to reach the USA.
Panama’s security minister announced on Tuesday that over half of the migrants recently deported from the United States had accepted voluntary repatriations to their home countries. On Wednesday morning, the hotel in Panama City where the migrants were held appeared quiet, according to a Reuters witness. Some migrants were seen holding hands and looking out a window of the hotel to attract the attention of reporters outside.
Reports indicate that migrants in the hotel were not allowed to leave. On Wednesday, Panama’s migration service confirmed that a Chinese national, Zheng Lijuan, had escaped from the hotel. The service requested her return and accused unspecified individuals outside the hotel of assisting her escape.
