Hundreds deported from us held at the Panama Hotel

In a room in the luxurious Hotel Decpolis in Panama City, two girls have a piece of paper in the window with a written message. “Please help us,” he says.

The hotel offers its customers rooms with sea views, has two exclusive restaurants, a pool, a private spa and transport. But now it has become a “temporary custody” center that houses 299 undocumented migrants deportees of the United States, the Panamanian government said Tuesday.

Some migrants raise their arms and cross them on the wrists to indicate that they are deprived of their liberty. Others hang small signs with other messages such as: “We are not safe in our country.”

The Trump administration has pledged to deport millions of people who illegally crossed the United States. Those at the Hotel in Panama City arrived on three flights last week, after President José Raúl Mulino agreed that Panama would become a country of “bridge” for deportees.

However, of the 299 undocumented migrants: from India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, only 171 have agreed to return to their countries of origin.

The rest now faces an uncertain future, and it is the Panaman authorities that have control of what happens later.

According to the government, this group will be transferred to a camp in the province of Darién, which has temporarily housed migrants who cross the jungle on the way to the United States.

On a normal day, tourists can enter and leave the Decapolis hotel easily, but now very armed members of the Panaman Aeronaval Service enforce the strict security measures inside and outside the building.

From the street, you can see laundry hanging in a window. One of the articles is a yellow basketball t -shirt of Los Angeles Lakers with the number 24, used by the legendary Kobe Bryant player.

In another window, a group of adults and three children raise their arms with the thumbs in Las Palmas, the international symbol of those who need help. “Help us,” is written in red letters in the glass.

And two boys with their face hold the sheets of paper against the glass with the message: “Please keep the Afghan girls.”

An Iranian woman who has lived in Panama for several years told the BBC that she was in contact with one of the migrants inside the hotel. She said they were “terrified” of the possibility of being returned to Iran.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she went to the hotel to offer her help as a translator of Farsi, but told her that they already had one.

He added, however, that people inside the hotel said that was not true.

According to the reports, the use of a hidden mobile phone, since contact with those outside the Decaspolis hotel is not allowed, the Iranian woman said that the migrant told her that there were several children at the hotel, which has been denied A lawyer and who are not allowed to leave their rooms even to eat.

After the history of the deportees who stopped at the hotel were first reported on Tuesday, the established security measures harden and the access of Internet migrants was cut, said the woman.

The BBC contacted both Hotel Decpolis and the Panamanian government to ask about the conditions within the building, but did not receive an answer.

However, Panama Public Security Minister Frank Abrego said that migrants cannot leave the hotel because their government must guarantee the security and peace of Panamanians.

A video posted on social networks on the weekend showed one of the migrants described in Farsi how they had been arrested after crossing the border to the United States and told him that they would be taken to Texas, but ended up in Panama.

The woman in the video said her life would be in danger if she returned to Iran due to the possible reprisals of the government.

His intention, he said, is to ask for political asylum.

Analysts say this is difficult to obtain without access to a lawyer, even more when the Panamanian government announced that this access would not be offered to deportees.

The Abrego minister said Tuesday that migrants would remain temporarily in Panama under the protection of the country’s authorities.

“What we agreed with the United States government is that they are here and will remain in our temporary custody for their protection,” he said.

He also warned that those migrants who did not want to return to their country of origin would have to choose a third country.

In that case, he said, the International Organization for Migration (IIM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would be responsible for their repatriation.

An IIM spokesman told the BBC that the organization is in charge of “providing essential support” to deported people from the United States.

“We are working with local officials to help those affected, supporting the voluntary return of those who request it and identifying safe alternatives for others,” he said.

“While we have no direct participation in the detention or restriction of people’s movement, we are committed to ensuring that all migrants are treated with dignity and according to international standards,” he said.

Ábrego also said that migrants were being housed at the Hotel Daspolis due to their ability to receive them.

Another high official said that “the arrival of more migrants is not expected” because no more flights of this type have been agreed with the United States.

Panama agreed to be a country of “bridge” for deportations after the United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, visited the country while the tensions cooked on Trump’s threats to “recover” the sovereignty of the Panama Canal .

Muzaffar Chishti, a senior researcher from the Institute of Migration Policy, a group of experts in the United States, said that many of those deported come from nations that are not open to accepting the return of the nationally deported nationals of the United States.

“That implies constant diplomatic negotiations with those governments,” he told the BBC.

“When sending them to Panama, the United States is off the scene,” he added. “It is a headache for Panama to take care of these negotiations and see how to get these countries to accept them again.”

This week, a flight that transported deported from the United States will arrive in Costa Rica, another Central American country that has agreed with Washington becomes a nation of “bridge” for deportees.

Additional reports by Sheida Hooshmandi, Persian BBC