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.
Advertisement
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.
Advertisement
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.