Panama Grants Temporary Stay to 112 Migrants Deported by the U.S. Amid Asylum Fears

Panama has provided a temporary reprieve to 112 illegal migrants deported by the United States and will permit them to remain in the country for at least 30 days. The migrants, mostly from Middle Eastern and Asian nations, will be given humanitarian permits for a month, which can be extended up to 90 days, Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego said.

These migrants were part of a broader group of about 300 migrants deported to Panama by the Trump administration’s mass deportation program. This much debated initiative which pressured Latin American nations to take in deported migrants has come under international criticism. Among the 112, some are asylum seekers who have fled violence or persecution in their homelands. The deportees consist of nationals from Afghanistan, China, Iran and Russia, many of whom were detained in a camp near the Darien jungle.

Even though the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration offered them repatriation support, most of the migrants refused, citing security issues. One of the asylum seekers, Artemis Ghasemzadeh from Iran, was afraid to go back to her country because she had converted to Christianity and feared religious persecution. “We are in danger” she said to CNN.

Lawyers for the deportees, who have made a complaint before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, praised the decision but called on the Panamanian government to prevent the asylum seekers from being returned after the 90-day waiting period. They pointed out that most of the deportees are at risk to their safety based on religion and gender identity.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has rejected allegations of mistreatment, claiming that his administration upholds human rights in dealing with the deportees.