US illegal immigration crackdown: Indians among 300 deportees from US detained at Panama hotel, not allowed to leave

Nearly 300 illegal immigrants, including Indians, deported from the US as part of President Donald Trump’s massive crackdown against undocumented aliens, are currently being detained at a hotel in Panama as officials are scrambling to send them back to their home countries.

Images doing the rounds on social media showed desperate deportees holding up signs that said, “please help us” and “we are not safe” on the windows of Decapolis Hotel in Panama City, while police officers stood guard at the premises.

According to an Associated Press report, a majority of the nearly 300 deportees belonged to India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Vietnam and Iran. Panama is being used as a stop-over as the US faces difficulties in the deportation process to some of these nations.

Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego, however, said that the immigrants were not being “deprived of their freedom”, adding that “they are in our custody for their protection”.

Speaking to reporters, Abrego also confirmed that the deportees were receiving medical aid and food as part of a migration agreement between Panama and the US.

Following US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Panama earlier this month, the Central American nation agreed to serve as a “bridge” or transit country for deportees, while Washington bears all the costs of the operation.

Abrego also said those who do not want to be deported to their home countries would be transferred to a shelter in the Darien jungle, near Panama’s border with Colombia, while the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency organise their relocation to another nation.

As of Wednesday evening, Panama had already transferred one-third of the deportees from the US to a camp in Darien, which has become the main thoroughfare for migrants travelling from South America to the US border in recent years.

(With AP and AFP inputs)