Panama grants 112 US deported migrants temporary protection
Panama grants 112 US deported migrants temporary protection
Panama will have more than a hundred undocumented migrants deported by the United States for at least another 30 days in the country, Security Minister Frank Ábrego said on Friday.
humanitarian permits for migrants
The group, which mainly comes from countries in Asia and the Middle East, will receive temporary humanitarian permits for one month that can be extended by up to 90 days. Ábrego reported that those affected rejected the return aid from the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration.
deportation and unchanged living conditions
These people originally belonged to a group of almost 300 migrants who were sent to Panama as part of the mass deportation campaign of the Trump administration from the USA. CNN previously reported that the group comprises asylum seekers who flee violence or persecution in their countries of origin. According to Ábrego, the remaining group of 112 deportants belongs to nine people from Afghanistan, twelve from China, 24 from Iran and two from Russia.
fear for security of migrants
Many of the migrants are housed in an emergency camp in the remote darien jungle region. The lawyer Ali Herischi, who represents Iranian asylum seekers Artemis Ghasemzadeh and nine other clients in the camp, told CNN that they stayed there and are afraid to sign the exit formalities, since "the exact conditions of release are unclear."
a life in danger
ghasemzadeh fled from Iran for fear of persecution after she has converted to Christianity and is afraid for her life if she is forced to return to her home country. "We are in danger," she said in text messages to CNN in February. "We are waiting for (a) miracle."
legal representation and the challenges for asylum seekers
A group of lawyers who represented the deported-and had previously filed a lawsuit against Panama at the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights-welcomed the decision on Friday in a statement, but emphasized that asylum seekers should not be repatriated at the end of the 90-day period.
"Today, in the context of our pending procedure, the Panamaic government has carried out a change of course - it has undertaken not to deport our clients and to relieve them from the Inkommunikado and arbitrary imprisonment," said Silvia Serna Roman, a lawyer and co -representative of the case, in the opinion. "Our main concern is that the government does not offer a solution for our clients who cannot return to their home countries due to fear of persecution."
The challenge of circumstances in the warehouse
There are several children and many people among the deportees who fear persecution in their home countries, among other things due to their religion or sexual and gender identity, according to the lawyers and a summary document that is available. The migrants were originally housed in a hotel in Panama city before some were moved to the remote camp that Herischi described as difficult and unsanitary with limited access to medication and the Internet.dispute over the rights of deported
The Panamaic President José Raúl Mulino has repeatedly denied that the authorities violated the rights of the deportants by accepting their deportation or holding them up in Panama during their stay. "These organizations respect human rights. It is wrong and I deny that we abuse them," said Mulino.
The reporting of CNN was supported by Yong Xiong, Caitlin Danaher, Michael Rios and Omar Jimenez.
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