For days, they say they were locked inside a hotel in Panama, surrounded by tight security with limited contact with the outside world.
Nearly 300 migrants from Asia, all deported by the US, were held there by Panamanian authorities who agreed to take them in and eventually repatriate them. It’s part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with.
But the conditions they have faced are distressing and may have violated their rights, the lawyers said.
Trapped in a hotel
The migrants started arriving in Panama City last week after being deported from the US. 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.
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.
“Under Islamic law, you cannot convert from Islam to any other religion,” said Herischi, who represents her.
Ghasemzadeh now worries her life will be at risk if she’s returned to Iran.
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.
The migrants were not allowed to leave the hotel “for their own protection,” Panama’s Security Minister Frank Ábrego told a local radio program on Wednesday. He said they were held at the hotel, in part, because officials needed to “effectively verify who these people are who are arriving in our country.”
Soto argues that the migrants have the right to seek asylum because they’re fleeing persecution.
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.
“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.
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.”
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.
Bused to a migrant camp
The Panamanian government said that from Tuesday to Wednesday, about 97 migrants were taken out of the hotel and bused to a remote holding camp on the outskirts of the Darién Jungle. It happened after a New York Times report exposed the desperation of those stranded in the hotel in Panama City.
He said they described the site as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet.
One family has a sick child who could be heard crying in the background during a call between Herischi and Panamanian officials.
Sabalza said the family she represents was also taken to the camp.
She said Panamanian authorities had not yet provided them with guidelines on how the attorneys would be able to visit their clients at the camp or if they would need special permits to enter.
“It is urgent for us to have clarity about the mental and physical health status of our (clients),” she said.
When the migrants arrived at the gate on Wednesday morning, Herischi said the situation was so unorganized that the guards didn’t even have a list of the migrants’ names to identify them upon arrival. The guards later confiscated all the migrants’ cell phones.
He added that he plans to file legal action against Panama and the US in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and US federal court.
More than 100 migrants have asked not to be repatriated, Panamanian officials have said.
The IOM is expected to work with them and try to find a third country that will accept them, Security Minister Ábrego said.
Meanwhile, President Mulino said another group of migrants would be sent to the camp because “that’s where they can be more at ease.”
He added that 175 migrants who are still in the hotel have voluntarily agreed to return to their countries of origin. At least 13 have already been sent back.
Herischi said Panamanian authorities assured him they would not send Ghasemzadeh and other migrants back to Iran if they expressed fear of reprisals. Instead, officials said they would speak with the embassies of other countries to see if they can accept them.
Herischi concluded, “The only ‘luck’ that they got is that Panama has no relationship with Iran, so there is no Iranian embassy there.”
“That’s a good thing.”
