Panama's Public Safety Minister Frank Alexis Abrego boarded a repatriation flight at Albrook Airport in Panama City on February 3 to address reporters. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool AP Closed subtitles
Panama City - Panama is detained in a hotel of nearly 300 people under U.S. President Donald Trump and is not allowed to leave while waiting for international authorities to organize their return to their country.
Authorities say more than 40% of immigrants will not return to their homes voluntarily. Immigrants in hotel rooms read the information “Help” and “We are not saved in our country (SIC)” to the window.
Immigration comes from 10 Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, etc. It is difficult for the United States to deport some of these countries directly, so Panama is used as a stopover. Costa Rica is expected to receive similar deportations from third countries on Wednesday.
Panama Security Minister Frank Abrego said Tuesday that immigrants are receiving medical treatment and food as part of an immigration agreement between Panama and the United States
The Panama government has now agreed to serve as a "bridge" or a transit country for deported people, and the United States bears all costs of the action. The agreement was announced after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, facing political pressure from Trump's threat to control the Panama Canal, announced the arrival of his first flight last Thursday.
The imprisonment and legal barriers faced by deportees have raised alarms in Central American countries, especially when images of immigrants spread to windows in rooms in hotel high-rise buildings and display notes to ask for help.
Abrego denied that foreigners were detained, even if they could not leave their hotel rooms, which were guarded by police.
Abrego said 171 of the 299 deportations agreed to voluntarily return to their respective countries, with the help of the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations refugee agency. United Nations agencies are talking to 128 other immigrants in order to find their destination in third countries. Abregor said an Irish citizen who was deported had returned to her country.
Those who disagree to return to the country will temporarily be held in a facility in the remote Darien province, where thousands of immigrants have travelled across the northern part in recent years, Abrego said.
The Panama Ombudsman's Office plans to provide more details on the situation of the expelled skinned man later Tuesday.