Deported Immigrants From US To Panama Cries Out For Help
In a room at the luxury Decápolis Hotel in Panama City, two girls hold a piece of paper to the window with a written message. “Please help us,” it reads.
The hotel offers clients rooms with sea views, two exclusive restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa and private transportation but it has now become a “temporary custody” centre housing 299 undocumented migrants deported from the US.
At the hotel, some migrants tried to voice their concerns by sending distress signals to journalists gathered outside. Standing in front of their windows, they held up pieces of paper with handwritten notes begging for support.
“Please help us,” one sign read. “We are not (safe) in our country.”
Another message was written with lipstick directly on the window. “HELP US,” it read in bold, red letters.
Panama: A Deportation Transit Hub
Those in the Panama City hotel arrived on three flights last week, after President José Raúl Mulino agreed that Panama would become a bridge country for deportees for the Trump led administration that pledges to deport millions of people who crossed illegally into the US.
However, of the 299 undocumented migrants – from India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – only 171 have agreed to return to their countries of origin.
The remainder now face an uncertain future, and it is the Panamanian authorities who are in control of what happens next.
According to the government, this group will be transferred to a camp in the province of Darién, which has temporarily housed migrants crossing the jungle en route to the US.
Trapped in a Luxury Hotel
Before the deportation, tourists could enter and leave the Decápolis Hotel with ease, but now heavily armed members of the Panamanian National Aeronaval Service enforce strict security measures inside and outside of the building.
Some didn’t even know they were being flown to another country until they actually landed in Panama, according to attorney Ali Herischi, who said “they were told they’re going to Texas.”
The migrants were then sent to the Decapolis Hotel and forced to stay there for days without stepping foot outside.
Jenny Soto Fernández, a Panamanian lawyer who represents about 24 migrants from India and Iran, said her clients were living in isolation, fear and uncertainty.
She said a lot of them didn’t know their rights and weren’t given orders of removal upon being deported. They also face language barriers and are constantly worried about being repatriated, she added.
Fearing Repatriation: Stories of Persecution
One of the migrants is Artemis Ghasemzadeh, an Iranian national who fled her country out of fear of persecution because of her conversion to Christianity.
Ghasemzadeh now worries her life will be at risk if she’s returned to Iran.
Soto argues that the migrants have the right to seek asylum because they’re fleeing persecution.
“These people that are requesting refugee (status) — it’s not because they want to come here on an adventure or a trip. No, they’re escaping. They’re victims of violence and persecution,” she told CNN.
Soto said she tried at least four times to meet her clients at the hotel to sign legal documents required by authorities but was blocked by officials and never made it past the lobby.
Soto sent CNN a video filmed by her clients, showing her waving to them from the hotel staircase below, trying to reach them to hand them the paperwork. But the clients were prevented from going down and Soto was told to leave.
“They actually were so emotional, screaming and said, ‘I want my lawyer! I want her. I want to talk to her. I don’t want to talk to these people here,’” Soto said.
Attorney Susana Sabalza told CNN she represents a family from Taiwan who was held at the hotel for five days without knowing what was happening.
She said that while they had comfortable beds and a place to stay, they were under “psychological pressure being closed in with security guards, immigration police, (and) officers there.”
CNN has reached out to Panama’s security ministry, as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who are involved in the repatriation efforts.
Panama’s Government Responds
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied that authorities have violated any laws.
“These organizations are respectful of human rights. It’s false and I deny that we are mistreating them,” Mulino insisted.
Security Minister Ábrego said Wednesday that he hadn’t heard of any migrants requesting asylum there.
“But if they think they have the need, as any human being would, to request asylum, we have to pay attention to it and approve or disapprove it,” he added
