‘Please help us’: Indians among 299 deportees detained in Panama City hotel

A group of 299 illegal immigrants from several nations, including some Indians, were deported to Panama by the US government as the administration of US President Donald Trump tries to accelerate deportations.

Major news networks shared photos of desperate deportees standing at the glass windows of Decapolis Hotel in Panama City and holding up signs that read “we are not safe in our country” and “please help us”.

Also Read: US plane with third batch of 112 Indian deportees lands in Amritsar

The deportees remained under police guard in a Panama City hotel awaiting travel arrangements to their countries. The Panamanian government has denied that they are detained, but they are under police guard and not allowed to leave the hotel.

Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego said the immigrants are not being deprived of their freedom, but “are in our custody for their protection”.

Costs borne by US

Speaking to journalists, Abrego said the deportees were receiving food and medical assistance as part of a migration agreement between the US and Panama.

Panama has agreed to act as a “bridge or transit country” for illegal migrants being deported from the US, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Panama earlier this month.

The costs of the operation will be borne by the US government.

In a limbo

The deportees, primarily from Asian countries, are in a sort of limbo in Panama after the Central American nation agreed to serve as a transit point for migrants who are hard for the Trump administration to deport directly to their countries.

According to reports, most of the 299 deportees hail from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, China, Vietnam, and Iran.

Also Read: ‘Handcuffed, legs chained’: Second-batch US deportee reports same treatment

Abrego had said on Tuesday that 171 of the migrants had agreed to return to their countries of origin, although he did not provide a specific timeline. He also noted that an Irish citizen had already been repatriated.

The remaining migrants would be sent to a temporary migration facility near the Darien Gap, a heavily-forested region along the Colombian border, until it's clear where they will be sent. The region has historically been used by migrants from Venezuela and other countries to travel north to the US.

98 deportees moved to camp in Darien province

Panama transferred 98 deportees from various nations it had received from the United States to a camp in its Darien province on Wednesday (February 19), an area that became the main thoroughfare for migrants travelling from South America to the US border in recent years, a government official said.

Also Read: Why do deportees' flights always land in Amritsar, asks Punjab CM Mann

The migrants sent to Darien had refused to voluntarily be repatriated to their countries and will be held there until third countries can be found to take them, said the Panamanian official familiar with the situation who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the matter.

Chinese woman escaped, recaptured

Panama's National Immigration Service had announced earlier on Wednesday that one migrant, a Chinese woman, had escaped the hotel, but authorities later reported her recapture.

Security Minister Frank Abrego wrote on a post on social platform X that she was found abandoned near a migrant processing facility along the northern Panama-Costa Rica border, a high-transit point for migrants headed toward the US. While it was not clear if she was found in Panama or in Costa Rica, he blamed her brief escape on "human traffickers."

(With inputs from agencies)