Panama released dozens of migrants on Saturday, who had been spent in a remote camp for weeks after being deported from the United States, they were given 30 days to leave the Central America's nation.
Deported, mostly from Asian countries, were part of A The deal was impressed between Trump and Panama and Costa Adam Last month when the US government is trying to speed up deportations. The deal was a significant diplomatic victory for President Trump and his government repression on illegal immigration.
The Trump administration has sent hundreds of people, many families with children, to two Central America as a stop, while the authorities organize a way to send them back to their countries of origin.
Matias Delacroix / AP
The arrival of the deported was met with weeks of lawsuits and human rights criticism for the bad conditions of the Panaman government, who stated that he wanted to work with the Trump administration “to send a signal” to people who hope to migrate.
Critics described this as a way of US -export deportation.
The agreement caused human rights problems when hundreds of deported detainees at the Panama -Sitti hotel followed their notes to their assistance and stated that they were afraid to return to their countries. Those who refused to return home were later sent to a remote camp near Panama's border with Colombia, where they spent weeks in bad conditions, were deprived of their phones, unable to access the legal lawyer and did not say where they were going on.
According to international refugee law, people have the right to apply for asylum when they run away with conflicts or persecution.
It pushes many, like Hoyatula Oma, a 29-year-old guy who escaped in Afghanistan in 2022 after the Taliban took control, into a legal suspended limb, going to find a way forward.
“We are fugitives. We don't have the money. We can't pay for the Panama Hotel, we don't have relatives,” Oma said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I can't go back to Afghanistan under any circumstances … It is under the Taliban control and they want to kill me. How can I go back?”
Matias Delacroix / AP
Authorities said the deportations would be able to extend their stay for 60 days if they need it, but after that many, as Ohm, do not know what they will do.
Omakh rose from the bus in Panama, as well as 65 migrants from China, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal and other peoples, spent weeks detained in bad conditions by the Panama Government, who stated that he wanted to work with the Trump administration “to send a signal” to people who are hoping for migration.
Human rights groups and lawyers who advocated migrants were waiting at the bus terminal and got out to find a thrown asylum of migrants and other resources. Dozens of other people stayed in the camp.
Among those who came out of the buses were migrants who fled with violence and repression in Pakistan and Iran, and 27-year-old Nikita Gaponov, who escaped from Russia because of the repression for the fact that he was a participant in LGBTK+ community and said he was detained at the US border.
“Once I get off the bus, I will sleep on the ground tonight,” Gaponov said.
Others again turned their eyes north, saying that despite
Lawyers and human rights defenders warned that Panama and Costa -ricin were turning into “black holes” for deported, and stated that their release was a way for the Panama authorities to wash their hands deported against the background of raising human rights criticism.
Those who were released on Saturday evening, as Ohm, said they could not return home.
As an atheist and a member of the ethnic minority in Afghanistan, known as Hazar, he said he returned home under the Taliban rule – the power of the Baden's power came out of the country – means he will be killed. He only went to the US after he tried to live in Pakistan, Iran and other countries for years, but was denied visas.
Matias Delacroix / AP
Oma was deported after he presented himself to the US authorities and asking for asylum in the United States that he was denied.
“My hope was freedom. Just freedom,” he said. “They didn't give me the opportunity. I asked to talk to the shelter officer many times, and they told me,” No, no, no, no. “
The Panaman authorities denied the camp's allegations, but blocked the journalists to access the camp and canceled the planned visit to the press last week.
While international assistance organizations said they would organize trips to a third country for people who did not want to return home, the authorities said that people who had released had already refused help.
Oma said he was told in the camp that he could be sent to a third country if she would give people from Afghanistan visas. He said it would be incredibly difficult, as few countries open their doors to people with an Afghan passport.
He said he asked the authorities several times if he could seek asylum in Panama and said he was told that “we did not accept asylum.”
“None of them wants to stay in Panama. They want to apply to the US,” said Carlos Ruiz-Hernandez, Deputy Foreign Minister Panama in an interview with the AP last month.
This was the case for some, as one Chinese woman who spoke with the AP, provided anonymous, fearing the consequences of the Panaman.
Going off the bus, the first thing she wanted to do is find Coke. Then she will find the way back to the USA
“I still want to continue traveling to the US and fulfill my American dream,” she said.
Panama's readiness to accept deported also came when Mr. Trump expressed interest in resuming control over strategically important Panama Chanal, who went to Panama in 1999. Panama leaders dismissed the idea and challenged the claims of Mr. Trump and US officials about China's influence on the channel.