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Associated Press

A deportee from the United States detained in a camp in rural Panama, among a hundred who refused to return to their countries, described on Saturday waiting in limbo under “harsh conditions” and cut off from access to legal council and other rights.
The Chinese deportee, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation by Panamanian authorities, spoke with a hidden cellphone after being connected through a concerned relative.
The woman said authorities were seizing the phones of migrants in the camp and effectively cutting them off. The migrants were from Asian nations, Russia, Afghanistan and Nepal, she said.
The migrant said that people in the camp had their personal freedoms restricted, and that migrants faced both poor conditions in the camp and a strict vigilance from guards.
“Someone follows me even when I go to the toilet,” she said.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The testimony comes after an uproar in Panama this week over the treatment of nearly 300 migrants who were deported from the United States and are being held in Panama as authorities return them to their own countries.
It’s part of a deal struck with the Trump administration in which countries like Panama and Costa Rica act as “bridges,” temporarily detaining deportees.
Originally, the migrants were locked up in hotel rooms by authorities in the country’s capital, Panama City. Panama denied that they were detained, but migrants were not allowed to leave their hotel and were guarded by police.
A number of migrants held up signs asking for help, and claimed that they were not safe in their home countries.

Around 40 per cent of the migrants refused to return to their countries, many citing fear of returning. Those who are willing to return home remained at the hotel, and 13 have already been returned, according to authorities.
Those who refused have been sent to a rural migrant camp in the southern Darien province, near the Darién Gap, a perilous jungle migrant passage between Panama and Colombia.
The camp, located near a small town known as San Vicente, Metetí, was originally constructed as a migrant reception centre built to address the flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants travelling north through the Darién Gap in recent years. Though much of that traffic north has since eased off.
Organisations like the UN agency International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said they would organise “safe alternatives” for where to send the migrants now being sheltered in the camp.
“We do not have direct involvement in the detention or restriction of movement of individuals,” the IOM wrote in a statement.


On Saturday, the US State Department in a social media post thanked Panama and Costa Rica for keeping the deportees, and said that the countries were “safely returning third-country nationals to their countries of origin.”
The woman who spoke anonymously said she was held in a hotel for five days before being sent to the second refugee camp, and that she wanted to continue to the US Upon being deported, she said she did not sign any deportation documents, a standard procedure.
She said that deportees were being “guarded like prisoners” in the Darien camp and that she believes they are being stripped of key rights, unable to access the outside world. They have no access to outside legal help, she said, and have received no offers of legal advice from authorities.
“But the Panamanian government kept asking us where to go,” she said.


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Americas and the Caribbean

Chinese woman in Panama camp says ‘guarded like prisoners’ after US deportation

Members of Panama’s National Aeronaval Service police stand outside the hotel in Panama City, Panama on February 18, where migrants are housed after being deported to Panama as part of an agreement with the US. Photo: Reuters

Migrants deported from the US place papers with a written message in the window of the Decapolis Hotel where they are temporarily staying in Panama City on February 18, 2024. Photo: AFP

It’s no holiday at Panama hotel where hundreds deported by US are being held

A woman deported from the US looks out the window of the Decapolis Hotel where she is temporarily staying in Panama City. Photo: AFP

Women hold up signs pleading for help. Photo: AFP

The Decapolis hotel in Panama City. Photo: EPA-EFE

Costa Rica and Honduras join Panama as stopovers for deportees from US

Migrants deported from the United States look out the window of a plane upon their arrival at Juan Santamaria International Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. Photo: EPA-EFE

Costa Rican security forces guard the arrival of migrants deported from the US. Photo: EPA-EFE

A shelter for migrants in Corredores, near the Costa Rica-Panama border. Photo: AFP

Chinese woman recaptured after escape from Panama hotel holding hundreds deported by US

Members of Panama’s National Aeronaval Service police on Tuesday stand outside the hotel where migrants are being housed after being deported to Panama from the US. Photo: Reuters

People hold hands at the window of the hotel. Photo: Reuters

Trump’s Panama tensions augur risk for Chinese investments

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (centre) and Panama Canal Authority Administrator Ricuarte Vasquez (right) tour the Panama Canal in Panama City, on February 2. Allegations of “Chinese influence” on the canal have made the sea route a flashpoint in international relations. Photo: AP

Allegations of “Chinese influence” on the Panama Canal have made the sea route a flashpoint in international relations. Photo: Reuters

US military commander meets Panama Canal administrator to discuss countering China

Panama Canal administrator Ricaurte Vasquez (R) talking with the head of the US Southern Command, US Admiral Alvin Holsey, during a tour of the canal’s facilities at the Miraflores Locks near Panama City, on Thursday. Photo: Panama Canal Authority / AFP

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World

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United States & Canada

The woman, fearing retaliation, spoke anonymously, alleging restricted freedoms, constant surveillance, and phone confiscation


The woman, fearing retaliation, spoke anonymously, alleging restricted freedoms, constant surveillance, and phone confiscation.
