‘We are in danger’: Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say
CNN
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.”
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. Some migrants have been transferred to a remote camp at the edge of a jungle that few can access, lawyers representing some of the migrants told CNN. Now, they wait to learn if they will be sent back to the countries they fled or to another nation willing to receive them. But the conditions they have faced are distressing and may have violated their rights, the lawyers said. 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.
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