Nearly 100 migrants who have been deported to Panama, who have been locked up in hotels by the US, were loaded onto buses Tuesday night and moved to detention camps on the outskirts of the jungle, some of the migrants said .
It is unclear whether deported groups will be detained in jungle camps under the Trump administration's fundamental efforts to expel unauthorized immigrants.
The conditions of the site are primitive, detainees said. Diseases, including dengue, are endemic to the region, and the government has denied access to journalists and aid organizations.
“It looks like a zoo. There's a fenced cage,” said Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old immigrant from Iran, after arriving at the camp following a four-hour drive from Panama City. . “They gave us old bread. We're sitting on the floor.”
The group includes eight children, according to people with knowledge of situations that are not permitted to talk about records. The lawyers say it is illegal to detain people in Panama for more than 24 hours without a court order.
The Panama government has not made an official announcement about its transfer to Jungle Camp.
In a broadcast interview with Panama Endurect, the news programme on Wednesday, the country's security minister Frank Abrego did not discuss the move. However, he said the migrants were being detained by Panama “for their own protection” because officials “have to “verify who they are.”
The move is the latest week-long move for a group of around 300 immigrants who have arrived in the US in hoping to seek asylum. The group was sent to Panama. Panama has agreed to support President Trump with a plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
The agreement is part of the Trump administration's larger strategy to export some of the most challenging migration challenges to other countries. The US cannot easily expel people from countries like Afghanistan, Iran, China, etc. for a variety of reasons, but by applying intense pressure, it was possible to persuade Panama to take some of them. Ta.
Last week, Panama's deputy foreign minister Carlos Luis Harnandez said Panama is following direct demands from the Trump administration to accept immigration. “This is clearly going on,” said Louis Hernandez at a press conference last Thursday. “It's a request, and a request made with a considerable amount of urgency.”
Analysts say Panama is also under intense pressure from Trump. Trump says he threatened to seize the Panama Canal for what he believes is China's influence in the waterway, a claim the Panama president has repeatedly rebutted.
Immigrants who were deported after being sent to Panama are no longer subject to US law.
Costa Rica also employs several deportees, including immigrants from Central Asia and India, and plans to repatriate them. Flights from the US were expected to arrive in Costa Rica on Thursday.
When they arrived in Panama City last week, around 300 immigrants were taken to a downtown hotel called Decapolis and banned from leaving, some of whom told the New York Times by phone and text message.
Jenny Soto Fernandez, a lawyer who attempts to represent many of them, was blocked at least four times from visiting them at the hotel, she said. At the hotel, the UN immigration agency is discussing immigrants and their options, offering flights to those who want them to fly to their country, according to the government.
Some people, including a group of Iranian Christians and men from China, told the New York Times that they risked retaliation and refused to sign documents that would pave the way for repatriation if they returned to their home country. Ta.
Under Iranian law, conversion from Islam is considered apostasy and is a crime punished by death.
An article published by The Times on Tuesday morning received a great deal of attention on the immigration situation, with members of Panama's news media surrounding the hotel.
That night, the hotel guards told people to pack bags, said Gasemzadeh, one of the Christian converts from Iran. Several buses arrived and security guards led them, as witnessed by reporters working at the New York Times.
The immigrants were initially told they would be taken to another hotel, Gasemzadeh said, but some feared that they were indeed deported to Iran.
Instead, the bus passed through the airport, then headed for the highway, moving to Panama City, east and even east to Darien Province.
Two immigrants used their mobile phones to share real-time locations with the times, allowing reporters to track their movements.
The camp, which houses around 100 immigrants, is called San Vicente and sits at the end of the jungle, also known as Darien, who connects Panama with Colombia. The camp was built as a stopover for migrants to Panama, a tragic part of their journey from Colombia through the Darien Jungle and into America.
The Panama government is currently using it on its exiles.
An Iranian woman, an 8-year-old mother, got on the bus and cried. Her child had been sick from days of sore throat, she said, and the uncertainty and constant displacement had hit her.
Upon arrival, Gasemzadeh said he could see a large container that looked like an immigrant's new home. Authorities instructed them to fill out their names on the form and asked for fingerprints, she said.
On Tuesday, Abrego told reporters at a press conference that out of the 300 or so immigrants, 170 volunteered to be sent back to their country of origin. Immigration as part of an agreement with the US.
“What we agreed to with the US government is that they remain and are under temporary custody for their protection,” he said.
Responding to immigrant accounts that mobile phones and documents from many people, including passports, had been confiscated, Abrego said those items were filmed while immigrants were in US custody.
On Wednesday, he said 12 people from Uzbekistan and India had been deported with the help of the International Migration Agency.
Authorities also said Wednesday that a Chinese woman, one of the migrants in custody, fled the hotel where dozens of migrants remained.
In a message posted to X, the country's immigration services helped her find her. Authorities said she was afraid that she would fall into the hands of human traffickers.
“As a national security organisation, the authorities write to X: “Our commitment is to fight against illegal immigration while adhering to domestic and international principles and regulations on human rights.”
The Panama government previously said that immigrants had no criminal history.
Many migrants who remain in hotels, including some from India and Eastern Europe, have signed documents allowing deportation and are expected to be sent to their country of origin in the coming days.
On Wednesday morning, Gasemzadeh from the Darien area described the swelling camp, beyond cats and dogs.
She then texted her saying that she was afraid that authorities would soon take her phone. “Please help us,” she said.
Alex E. Hernandez contributed to the report from Panama City.
