'Please help us': Indians among 300 US deportees stranded in Panama

Nearly 300 US deportees, including Indians, stranded in Panama as the authorities scramble to send them home. Detainees plead for aid from hotel windows

Nearly 300 illegal immigrants, including several Indians, have been detained in a hotel in Panama after being deported from the United States as part of President Donald Trump's sweeping crackdown on undocumented aliens. Authorities in Panama are working to send them back to their home countries.

 

Deportees plead for help from Panama Hotel

 

Images circulating across major news networks show detained deportees holding up signs reading “Please help us” and “We are not safe” from the windows of Decapolis Hotel in Panama City as police officers stood guard outside.

 

According to the Associated Press, the deportees mainly belong to India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Vietnam, and Iran. Panama has become a key stopover for these deportees as the US is facing deportation challenges with some of their native countries.

 

 

Panama denies rights violations, calls it ‘protective custody’

 

Despite concerns over their safety, Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego clarified that the deportees were "not being deprived of their freedom".

 

“They are in our custody for their protection,” Abrego told reporters, adding that they are being provided with food and medical care under a migration agreement between Panama and the US.

 

The detention comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Panama earlier this month, during which the Central American nation agreed to serve as a transit hub for deportees while Washington covers all operational costs.

 

Relocation efforts underway for deportees

 

For those unwilling to return to their home countries, Abrego said they would be transferred to a shelter in the Darien jungle, near Panama’s border with Colombia, where the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN Refugee Agency are working on their relocation to other nations.

 

So far, at least 171 deportees have voluntarily agreed to return home, while 97 have opted for relocation and were moved to a Darien camp as of Wednesday evening. Eight more are set to be transferred soon.

 

Chinese woman escapes, captured at Costa Rica border

 

On Wednesday, Panama’s National Immigration Service confirmed that a Chinese woman had escaped from the hotel but was later found near a migrant processing center along the northern Panama-Costa Rica border—a well-known route for migrants heading to the US.

 

US deportation flights bring hundreds of Indians back home

 

The latest development follows a series of US deportation flights carrying at least 332 illegal Indian immigrants back to India since February 5.

 

All three flights, C-17 US military aircraft, landed in Amritsar:

• February 5: 104 deportees

• February 15: 116 deportees

• February 16: 112 deportees

 

However, the deportation process has been criticised after deportees from the first two flights alleged they were shackled and handcuffed throughout their journey from the US to India, sparking widespread outcry.

 

(With inputs from AP and AFP)