Panama City – Attorneys from immigrants around the world have been deported from the U.S. and moved to a remote jungle camp in Panama in recent weeks said they have been unable to communicate with clients since they got there.
According to Panamanian authorities, about 112 deported immigrants were held at the “Saint Vicente” immigration center deep in the dense jungle. Their future is uncertain as they wait to grant them asylum in Panama or elsewhere.
“Families, including our clients, are about to be sent to Panama without any asylum screening, despite no contact with Panama,” said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.
“When they got there, they disappeared into the black box without consulting a lawyer,” he said.
Gelernt is one of several lawyers challenging the newly formed President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order on January 20 that roughly prevented immigrants from claiming shelter on the Mexican border.
In recent weeks, the United States has deported about 300 people to Panama, including people from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The flights are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to evade the fact that some countries refuse to reject U.S. deportation due to tense diplomatic relations or other reasons.
The arrangement with Panama allows the United States to expel these nationalities and bring responsibility for Panama to repatriate.
However, in this case, the process includes a stay at a hotel in Panama City, which was detained by the armed guards and widely criticized by human rights groups that would worry about the potential abuse of immigrants and fear that they would worry about their safety if they eventually return to their country of origin.
When asked Thursday’s press conference why immigrants at the camp were denied access to legal counsel, Panama President Jose Mulino replied that he “don’t know.”
Asked if he was concerned about the situation, he said, “Yes, but do they have lawyers in Panama?” and did not elaborate on what he meant before the press conference was concluded.
“The government of a transit country will evacuate or cannot remove from its country in accordance with its legal and international obligations,” State Department officials said.
Keren Zwick, an attorney at the National Center for Immigration Justice, said she felt “seriously concerned” about the safety of a Turkish woman and daughter who were deported from the United States and deported to Panama and have since been sent back to Turkey.
ACLU, NIJC and other rights groups have a copy of the legal complaint against the U.S. government (reuters reviewed) said Turkish women and her daughter told us immigration officials that they came to seek asylum. They arrived in the United States on February 3 after the executive order on January 20, and then deported a military aircraft to Panama nine days later.
Neither Gelernt nor Zwick have spoken to them since their hotel in Panama City.
The complaint says the woman and her husband were involved in a religious nonviolent campaign in Turkey, and the government then arrested him for his involvement, causing him to flee the country. The complaint said the woman fled Türkiye with her daughter after repeated incidents of harassment.
The woman’s husband told Zwick that his wife and her daughter were deported to Türkiye on Wednesday.
Analysts say an arrangement such as Panama is part of an effort by the Trump administration to “outsource” its deportation program to Central American countries. Costa Rica has also received immigrants of various nationalities deported from the United States in recent weeks.
Panamanian authorities said 112 migrants initially refused to be repatriated. Meanwhile, President Murino said at a press conference on Thursday that 113 immigrants have returned to their country of origin, 16 immigrants travelled on Thursday, and another 58 immigrants are waiting for tickets to their flights home.
Panamanian attorney Susana Sabalza, who represents a Taiwanese family, told Reuters she has been asking the government to solicit more than a week to contact clients.
“It’s not normal, we’ve never seen this in Panama before,” she said. “I should be able to talk to my clients.”
Ali Herischi, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, represented 11 Iranians at the camp, said his client made a three-minute phone call at the Panama Red Cross on Tuesday to talk to his family but was banned from calling the lawyer.
The ICRC said the direct role of the Red Cross in the Panama camp was recent, with authorities authorizing its personnel to provide health services and re-establishing the link between immigrants and their families.
“Our services (including telephone) have humanitarian purposes to prevent disappearance or loss of family contact, so they have no intention for viewers other than family relatives,” an ICRC spokesman told Reuters.
Two other lawyers tried to provide attorneys to deported immigrants who said they were banned from traveling to hotels and now to the jungle camp, and they said authorities had also taken their cell phones away from several immigrants.
Vincente Tedesco, one of the two lawyers, said he tried to provide immigration legal aid at the Panama City hotel but was banned from entering.
A week later, he issued a formal request to Panama’s Security Minister Frank Abrego for clarification of the legal status of immigrants and why they were banned from receiving legal counsel.
Tedesco said he received no formal response.
He added: “They violated the due process and the rights of these people as well as international conventions.”
The Panama Security Minister did not respond to a request for comment.
