‘Help us’: Hundreds deported from US held in Panama hotel

In a room at the luxury Decápolis Hotel in Panama City, two girls hold a piece of paper to the window with a written message. “Please help us,” it reads.

The hotel offers its clients rooms with sea views, has two exclusive restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa and private transportation. But it has now become a “temporary custody” centre housing 299 undocumented migrants deported from the US, the Panamanian government said on Tuesday.

Some migrants raise their arms and cross them at the wrists to indicate that they are deprived of their freedom. Others hang small signs with other messages such as: “We are not safe in our country.”

The Trump administration has pledged to deport millions of people who crossed illegally into the US. Those in the Panama City hotel arrived on three flights last week, after President José Raúl Mulino agreed that Panama would become a “bridge” country for deportees.

However, of the 299 undocumented migrants – from India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – only 171 have agreed to return to their countries of origin.

The remainder now face an uncertain future, and it is the Panamanian authorities who are in control of what happens next.

According to the government, this group will be transferred to a camp in the province of Darién, which has temporarily housed migrants crossing the jungle en route to the US.

On a normal day, tourists can enter and leave the Decápolis Hotel with ease, but now heavily armed members of the Panamanian National Aeronaval Service enforce strict security measures inside and outside of the building.

From the street, laundry can be seen hanging in a window. One of the items is a yellow Los Angeles Lakers basketball jersey with the number 24, worn by the legendary player Kobe Bryant.

In another window, a group of adults and three children raise their arms with their thumbs in their palms – the international symbol for those needing assistance. “Help us,” is written in red letters on the glass.

And two children with their faces covered hold up sheets of paper against the glass with the message: “Please save the Afghan girls.”

An Iranian woman who has lived in Panama for a number of years told the BBC she was in contact with one of the migrants inside the hotel. She said they were “terrified” of the possibility of being returned to Iran.

The woman, who asked not to be named, said she went to the hotel to offer her help as a Farsi translator but was told they already had one.

She added, however, that people inside the hotel said that was not true.

Using a hidden mobile phone, since contact with those outside of the Decápolis Hotel is reportedly not allowed, the Iranian woman said the migrant told her there were several children in the hotel, that they have been denied a lawyer and that they are not allowed to leave their rooms even to eat.

After the story of the deportees being held at the hotel was first reported on Tuesday, the security measures put in place were tightened and migrants’ access to the internet was cut off, the woman said.

The BBC contacted both the Decápolis Hotel and the Panamanian government to ask about the conditions inside the building, but did not receive a response.

However, Panama’s Minister of Public Security Frank Ábrego said migrants are not allowed to leave the hotel because his government must guarantee the safety and peace of Panamanians.

A video posted on social media on the weekend showed one of the migrants describing in Farsi how they had been detained after crossing the border to the US and told that they would be taken to Texas, but ended up in Panama.

The woman in the video said her life would be in danger if she returned to Iran because of possible reprisals of the government.

Her intention, she said, is to ask for political asylum.

Analysts say this is difficult to obtain without access to a lawyer – even more so when the Panamanian government announced that this access would not be offered to deportees.

Minister Ábrego said on Tuesday that the migrants would remain temporarily in Panama under the protection of the country’s authorities.

“What we agreed with the US government is that they are here and will remain in our temporary custody for their protection,” he said.

He also warned that those migrants who did not wish to return to their country of origin would have to choose a third country.

In that case, he said, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would be responsible for their repatriation.

An IOM spokesperson told the BBC that the organisation is in charge of “providing essential support” to people deported from the US.

“We are working with local officials to help those affected, supporting the voluntary return of those who request it and identifying safe alternatives for others,” he said.

“While we have no direct involvement in the detention or restriction of movement of persons, we are committed to ensuring that all migrants are treated with dignity and in accordance with international standards,” he said.

Ábrego also said the migrants were being housed in the Decápolis Hotel because of its capacity to receive them.

Another senior official said “the arrival of more migrants is not expected” because no more flights of this type have been agreed with the US.

Panama agreed to be a “bridge” country for deportations after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the country as tensions simmered over Trump’s threats to “recover” sovereignty of the Panama Canal.

Muzaffar Chishti, a senior researcher at the Migration Policy Institute – a think tank in the US – said many of the deportees come from nations not open to accepting the return of nationals deported from the US.

“That implies constant diplomatic negotiations with those governments,” he told the BBC.

“By sending them to Panama, the US is out of the picture,” he added. “It is a headache for Panama to take charge of those negotiations and see how to get those countries to agree to receive them again.”

This week, a flight carrying deportees from the US is expected to arrive in Costa Rica, another Central American country that has agreed with Washington to become a “bridge” nation for deportees.

Additional reporting by Sheida Hooshmandi, BBC Persian