Panama City – A woman among nearly 300 deportees from different nations, who were sent from the United States to Panama pending their return to their native countries, managed to escape from a hotel in the Panamanian capital, according to local authorities.
The National Immigration Service of Panama reported that a Chinese national received help to flee from individuals gathered around the hotel. Officials have reached out to those believed to be involved in her escape, warning them that they could face serious charges related to human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
On the day prior to the incident, some of the 299 detained migrants, who were under police surveillance and not permitted to leave the hotel premises, displayed messages from their windows appealing for assistance. These messages included pleas such as “please help us” and “We are not safe in our country.”
The group consists mainly of deportees from various Asian nations and currently finds itself in a state of uncertainty in Panama. The Central American country has agreed to act as a holding location for migrants that were difficult for the previous U.S. administration to deport directly to their homelands.
Approximately 40% of the detainees have indicated they would refuse to return to their countries voluntarily, which raises concerns about the duration of their detention in the hotel facility. The situation has sparked intense criticism of the Panamanian government, even as it contends, against mounting evidence, that the migrants are not technically in detention.
On Tuesday, Security Minister Frank Abrego announced that 171 of the detained migrants had agreed to return to their countries, although he did not provide any specific details regarding when this would occur. He also mentioned that one Irish citizen had already been sent back home.
The rest of the migrants will be relocated to a temporary migration facility situated near the Darien Gap, a densely forested area along Colombia’s border. This region has been a traditional route for migrants, including those from Venezuela, seeking to travel northward toward the United States.
