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Published : 27 Feb 2025, 11:09 PM
Lawyers for migrants from around the world who were deported from the United States and moved to a remote jungle camp in Panama in recent weeks say they have been unable to communicate with their clients since they arrived there.
Some 112 deported migrants are being held in the "San Vicente" immigration centre deep in the dense jungle that separates Panama from Colombia, according to Panamanian authorities. Their future is uncertain as they wait to see if they will be granted asylum in Panama or elsewhere.
"Individuals, including families like our clients, are being sent to Panama without any screening for asylum and despite not having any connection to Panama," said Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
"And when they get there, they are disappearing into a black box without access to counsel," he said.
Gelernt is one of several lawyers challenging a Jan 20 executive order from newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump that broadly blocked migrants from claiming asylum at the Mexico border.
In recent weeks, the US has deported some 300 people to Panama, including people from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. These flights are part of the Trump administration's efforts to sidestep the fact that some countries refuse US deportation flights due to strained diplomatic relations or other reasons.
The arrangement with Panama allows the US to deport these nationalities and makes it Panama's responsibility to organize their repatriation.
But the process, which in this case included an interim stop at a hotel in Panama City where the group was detained by armed guards, has been widely criticized by human rights groups that worry migrants could be mistreated and fear for their safety if they are ultimately returned to their countries of origin.
When asked at a press conference on Thursday why the migrants at the camp had been denied access to legal counsel, Panamanian President Jose Mulino replied that he "didn't know."
When asked if he was concerned about the situation, he said "Yes, but isn’t it curious that they have lawyers in Panama?" and did not elaborate on what he meant before ending the press conference.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) attorney Keren Zwick said she was "gravely concerned" about the safety of a Turkish woman and her daughter who were deported from the US to Panama and have since been sent back to Turkey, according to her husband.
A copy of the legal complaint against the US government from the ACLU, NIJC, and other rights groups - which Reuters reviewed - said the Turkish woman and her daughter told US immigration officials they had come to seek asylum. They arrived to the US on Feb 3, after the January 20 executive order, before being deported on a military plane to Panama nine days later.
Neither Gelernt nor Zwick has spoken with them since they were in the hotel in Panama City.
The woman and her husband had been involved in a religious non-violence movement in Turkey before the government issued a warrant for his arrest because of his involvement, causing him to flee the country, the complaint said. The woman then fled Turkey with her daughter after repeated incidents of harassment, said the complaint.
The woman's husband told Zwick that his wife and her daughter had been deported to Turkey on Wednesday.
Analysts say arrangements such as the Panama one are part of the Trump administration's effort to "outsource" its deportation plans to countries in Central America. Costa Rica has also received migrants from various nationalities that were deported from the US in recent weeks.
The 112 migrants being held in the jungle camp initially refused repatriation, Panamanian authorities say. Meanwhile President Mulino said at Thursday's press conference that 113 migrants have already returned to their countries of origin, 16 were traveling on Thursday and another 58 are awaiting tickets for flights home.
JUNGLE CAMPS
Susana Sabalza, a Panamanian lawyer representing a family from Taiwan that is being held in the jungle camp, told Reuters she had been asking the government for over a week for access to her clients.
"This isn't normal, we have never seen this in Panama before," she said. "I should be able to talk to my clients."
Ali Herischi, a lawyer in Washington, DC representing 11 Iranians in the camp, said his clients were each given a three-minute phone call by the Red Cross in Panama on Tuesday to speak with their families, but were barred from calling their lawyer.
The immediate role of Red Cross in Panama at the camp was recent and its personnel were authorized by authorities to provide health services and to re-establish contact between migrants and their families, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
"Our services, which include telephone calls, have the exclusively humanitarian purpose of preventing disappearance or loss of family contact, so they are not intended for audiences other than family relatives," an ICRC spokesperson told Reuters.
Two other lawyers seeking to offer representation to the deported migrants say they were barred access first to the hotel and now to the jungle camp, where they said authorities have also taken away cell phones from several migrants.
Vincente Tedesco, one of the two lawyers, said he attempted to offer the migrants legal assistance at the Panama City hotel but was barred entry.
A week later he sent a formal request, seen by Reuters, to Panamanian Security Minister Frank Abrego asking to clarify the migrants' legal status and why they had been barred from receiving legal counsel.
Tedesco said that he had not received a formal response.
"They are violating these people's right to due process and international conventions," he added.
Panama's security minister did not respond to a request for comment.
