It’s no holiday at Panama hotel where hundreds deported by US are being held

Panama was detaining nearly 300 people in a hotel from various countries deported under US President Donald Trump, not allowing them to leave while waiting for international authorities to organise a return to their countries.

More than 40 per cent of the migrants, authorities said, will not voluntarily return to their homeland. Migrants in the hotel rooms held messages to the windows reading “Help” and “We are not save (sic) in our country”.

The migrants hailed from 10 mostly Asian countries, including Iran, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and others.

The US has difficulty deporting directly to some of those countries so Panama was being used as a stopover. Costa Rica was expected to receive a similar flight of third-country deportees on Wednesday.

Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego said Tuesday the migrants were receiving medical attention and food as part of a migration agreement between Panama and the US.

The Panamanian government has now agreed to serve as a “bridge” or transit country for deportees, while the US beared all the costs of the operation. The agreement was announced earlier this month after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit.