Latest news with #AliHerischi
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
"This is not right": Trump deportees desperate for help after being stuck in limbo at Panama hotel
Ali Herischi, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights lawyer, has very limited contact with his dozen or so clients trapped in legal limbo in Panama. He, like the other lawyers attempting to represent the more than 100 migrants deported to the Central American country from the United States earlier this month, has largely been kept from communicating with them directly. To contact them, Herischi said he's occasionally able to reach them through the single, hidden cell phone they share but has mostly had to go through their families in Iran instead. Their situation is untenable. They felt unsafe staying in the San Vincente migrant reception center on the outskirts of the dense Darién Gap jungle they were hauled to, so they protested and were permitted to stay on benches outside the camp, Herischi told Salon in a phone interview. That's where they've remained since Feb. 20, receiving little water and stale food as they swelter in the Panamanian heat. To make matters worse, he said, their fates are uncertain — they received no formal documentation of their removal or prevention of entry from the U.S. and have no records of entry or detention in Panama. While his clients' experiences don't usually affect him emotionally, Herischi said the gravity of these immigrants' circumstances have weighed on him. He said he received a "heartbreaking" voice note from a member of one of the migrant families he's representing on Tuesday. "This one was really hard," Herischi recalled. "It said, 'Please don't let this situation affect us for the rest of our lives. It's become too much — the situation that we are [in]. I think it's going to create a scar in my son and all of us forever. It shouldn't be like that.'" Herischi's clients comprise just a fraction of the more than 300 migrants from China, Afghanistan, India, Iran and other countries captured at and deported from the U.S.-Mexico border to "bridge countries" across Central and South America in recent weeks. The Feb. 12 deportations to Panama garnered national attention after reports that migrants were placed on a military plane, carted to the country without their knowledge in handcuffs and shackles, and transferred to and detained in a Panama City hotel by armed guards for days, fled the airwaves. Images of the migrants pleading for help through the windows of the 4-star Decapolis topped articles detailing their plight: injuries from attempts to escape, having nearly all their cellphones seized, being cut off from legal counsel and faced with the impossible choice of remaining in detention or returning home to severe persecution. "They are devastated," Herischi said, noting that a majority of his clients had to find a way to get to Brazil in order to begin their weeks-long trek up through the Americas to reach the U.S. "Country after country, they had to pass [through], dealing with different groups of people, different types of transportation, to walking through jungles, and they don't know Spanish when dealing with all this," he said. "Then they arrived in the U.S., they felt okay, at least they're safe and [will] be able to apply for asylum and get status, and then they [were transferred] back again to this situation, which is really harsh." Such is the reality of President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans, actualized by the executive orders and proclamations he signed during his first week in office to tamp down irregular crossings at the southern border. As he attempts to deliver on his most ambitious campaign promise — cracking down on immigration — the president has cut deals with Latin American countries to free up space in U.S. detention centers, enlisting them as stopovers to repatriate nationals of countries with whom the U.S. has a tenuous diplomatic relationship. The tactic is something of a revival of a first-term Trump immigration policy that required migrants to seek asylum in these "third safe countries" before continuing to the U.S., according to Diego Chavez-Gonzalez, the senior manager for the Migration Policy Institute's Latin America and Caribbean Initiative. But the current model differs in its mandate that these transit countries instead handle migrants' deportations back to their countries of origin, which makes those who fear going back vulnerable, strips them of their rights and traps them in a "legal limbo," he said. "Instead of having a bridge situation, what we're seeing is that, for many of them, actually this is a dead-end," Chavez-Gonzalez told Salon in a phone interview. "They cannot legally stay in the transit countries. They cannot return to their home countries, and of course, they were deported from the United States." Complicating matters are the power differences at play between the Trump administration and the third countries he's enlisted the help of. Officials across Central America have rejected claims of coercion from the Trump administration to participate in his deportation plan. But Trump's threats to impose tariffs, seize control of the Panama Canal and deny visa applications to their nationals—as he did when Colombia refused to accept a plane of deportees—make these Central American nations' participation in the scheme appear less egalitarian than their leaders suggest, Chavez-Gonzalez said. Trump's deportation model "is in clear violation of international law and [the UN Refugee Agency] and [the International Organization for Migration], who have been strained of resources because of the cutting of foreign aid, they are being asked, without a lot of resources, to do something that is not part of their mandate," he added, warning of the risk this plan poses to the international system. Chavez-Gonzalez said that the region should expect to see more of these deportations in the coming months — but it won't last much longer than that. Trump's aim to deliver on his campaign promises around immigration far outpaces the government's capacity to make that narrative a reality, he said. "For now, what we are seeing is a game that is more focused on the numbers, on the hundreds," Chavez-Gonzalez added, predicting legal challenges will bring it to a swift end. "It's more about sending the message. It's more about responding to the electoral base."But for the migrants detained at the San Vincente camp, that game is a nightmare. All of Herischi's clients in Panama are Iranian, ranging in age from 11 to just under 40. The lawyer also counts among his clientele of recent deportees a small family with a three-year-old in a similar circumstance who were instead removed to Costa Rica. They each fled the country after converting to Christianity from Islam, which Iran's Shariah law classifies apostasy punishable by death, and sought refuge in the U.S. to practice their newfound faith freely. CBP detained them shortly after they crossed the border from Tijuana, and they were transferred to an ICE detention facility in San Diego, Herischi said. They said they told the officers that they are asylum seekers, which would usually grant them the opportunity to apply for asylum under international mandates. From there, they were randomly selected to be transferred and told they would be moved to a Texas detention facility, Herischi said. Instead, they were taken by military plane directly to Panama, did not go through customs upon arrival and were immediately detained in the hotel until they were bussed to the camp. Lawyers say it is illegal to detain people in Panama without a court order for more than 24 hours. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security previously told The New York Times that none of the migrants captured at the border and removed to Panama "asserted fear of returning to their home country at any point during processing or custody." Instead, they "were properly removed from the country." Herischi said that the Trump administration's treatment of his clients — and other deportees facing political persecution in their home countries — flouts the nation's long-term, generous commitment to granting political and religious asylum to those who sought it. He said they have plans to file suit in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Panama and the U.S. next week to ensure their rights to apply for asylum, immigrate, seek legal counsel and more are restored. "This is not right," Herischi said. "Even despite the broad policy of the immigration ban, they fail to account [for] this kind of situation, that they are real people, real lives, and they should not be the victim of political decisions and campaign promises. They are humans."
New York Times
28-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Corrections: Feb. 28, 2025
An article on Tuesday about a young woman who fled religious persecution in Iran and was then caught in the Trump administration's deportation push misspelled the surname of an Iranian-American lawyer. He is Ali Herischi, not Herschi. An article on Thursday about a New Jersey judge dismissing racketeering charges against George Norcross III misstated the position of Mr. Norcross's lawyers on the claims outlined in the indictment. They accepted the facts as presented in the indictment to be true only for the purposes of a pretrial motion to dismiss the indictment; not that the claims were accurate but did not constitute a crime. An article on Thursday about a poverty tracker report for New York City misidentified the research group that analyzed Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposals to reduce child poverty. It was the Urban Institute, not the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. The article also misstated the estimated reduction in child poverty from these proposals. It is about 18 percent for New York State, not 17 percent for New York City. Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions.
CNN
22-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘We are in danger': Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say
For days, they say they were locked inside a hotel in Panama, surrounded by tight security with limited contact with the outside world. Nearly 300 migrants from Asia, all deported by the US, were held there by Panamanian authorities who agreed to take them in and eventually repatriate them. It's part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. Some migrants have been transferred to a remote camp at the edge of a jungle that few can access, lawyers representing some of the migrants told CNN. Now, they wait to learn if they will be sent back to the countries they fled or to another nation willing to receive them. But the conditions they have faced are distressing and may have violated their rights, the lawyers said. The migrants started arriving in Panama City last week after being deported from the US. Some didn't even know they were being flown to another country until they actually landed in Panama, according to attorney Ali Herischi, who said 'they were told they're going to Texas.' The migrants were then sent to the Decapolis Hotel and forced to stay there for days without stepping foot outside. Jenny Soto Fernández, a Panamanian lawyer who represents about 24 migrants from India and Iran, said her clients were living in isolation, fear and uncertainty. She said a lot of them didn't know their rights and weren't given orders of removal upon being deported. They also face language barriers and are constantly worried about being repatriated, she added. One of the migrants is Artemis Ghasemzadeh, an Iranian national who fled her country out of fear of persecution because of her conversion to Christianity. 'Under Islamic law, you cannot convert from Islam to any other religion,' said Herischi, who represents her. Ghasemzadeh now worries her life will be at risk if she's returned to Iran. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN on Tuesday. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' At the hotel, some migrants tried to voice their concerns by sending distress signals to journalists gathered outside. Standing in front of their windows, they held up pieces of paper with handwritten notes begging for support. 'Please help us,' one sign read. 'We are not (safe) in our country.' Another message was written with lipstick directly on the window. 'HELP US,' it read in bold, red letters. The migrants were not allowed to leave the hotel 'for their own protection,' Panama's Security Minister Frank Ábrego told a local radio program on Wednesday. He said they were held at the hotel, in part, because officials needed to 'effectively verify who these people are who are arriving in our country.' Soto argues that the migrants have the right to seek asylum because they're fleeing persecution. 'These people that are requesting refugee (status) — it's not because they want to come here on an adventure or a trip. No, they're escaping. They're victims of violence and persecution,' she told CNN. Soto said she tried at least four times to meet her clients at the hotel to sign legal documents required by authorities but was blocked by officials and never made it past the lobby. Soto sent CNN a video filmed by her clients, showing her waving to them from the hotel staircase below, trying to reach them to hand them the paperwork. But the clients were prevented from going down and Soto was told to leave. 'They actually were so emotional, screaming and said, 'I want my lawyer! I want her. I want to talk to her. I don't want to talk to these people here,'' Soto said. Attorney Susana Sabalza told CNN she represents a family from Taiwan who was held at the hotel for five days without knowing what was happening. She said that while they had comfortable beds and a place to stay, they were under 'psychological pressure being closed in with security guards, immigration police, (and) officers there.' CNN has reached out to Panama's security ministry, as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who are involved in the repatriation efforts. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied that authorities have violated any laws. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino insisted. Security Minister Ábrego said Wednesday that he hadn't heard of any migrants requesting asylum there. 'But if they think they have the need, as any human being would, to request asylum, we have to pay attention to it and approve or disapprove it,' he added. CNN has reached out to Panama's National Office for Refugee Assistance to determine if anyone has filed an asylum claim. The Panamanian government said that from Tuesday to Wednesday, about 97 migrants were taken out of the hotel and bused to a remote holding camp on the outskirts of the Darién Jungle. It happened after a New York Times report exposed the desperation of those stranded in the hotel in Panama City. The miracle that Ghasemzadeh had hoped for didn't come. Hours after talking to CNN, she became one of those transferred to the camp. Her relatives said she learned late Tuesday night that she would be moved out of the hotel with about 12 other people, and that she didn't know where authorities would take her at the time. Herischi, who represents Ghasemzadeh and nine other refugees, told CNN that his clients ended up being detained in a 'very bad' camp. He said they described the site as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. One family has a sick child who could be heard crying in the background during a call between Herischi and Panamanian officials. Sabalza said the family she represents was also taken to the camp. 'It's complicated because there are children five years old (and) it's a tropical place,' she told CNN. She said Panamanian authorities had not yet provided them with guidelines on how the attorneys would be able to visit their clients at the camp or if they would need special permits to enter. 'It is urgent for us to have clarity about the mental and physical health status of our (clients),' she said. When the migrants arrived at the gate on Wednesday morning, Herischi said the situation was so unorganized that the guards didn't even have a list of the migrants' names to identify them upon arrival. The guards later confiscated all the migrants' cell phones. 'It shows that (it's) such an unorganized and never-thought-of (situation,) and just ad hoc political decision to accept this, but they don't know what to do with them,' he told CNN. He added that he plans to file legal action against Panama and the US in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and US federal court. More than 100 migrants have asked not to be repatriated, Panamanian officials have said. The IOM is expected to work with them and try to find a third country that will accept them, Security Minister Ábrego said. Meanwhile, President Mulino said another group of migrants would be sent to the camp because 'that's where they can be more at ease.' He added that 175 migrants who are still in the hotel have voluntarily agreed to return to their countries of origin. At least 13 have already been sent back. Herischi said Panamanian authorities assured him they would not send Ghasemzadeh and other migrants back to Iran if they expressed fear of reprisals. Instead, officials said they would speak with the embassies of other countries to see if they can accept them. Herischi concluded, 'The only 'luck' that they got is that Panama has no relationship with Iran, so there is no Iranian embassy there.' 'That's a good thing.'
CNN
22-02-2025
- Politics
- CNN
‘We are in danger': Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say
For days, they say they were locked inside a hotel in Panama, surrounded by tight security with limited contact with the outside world. Nearly 300 migrants from Asia, all deported by the US, were held there by Panamanian authorities who agreed to take them in and eventually repatriate them. It's part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. Some migrants have been transferred to a remote camp at the edge of a jungle that few can access, lawyers representing some of the migrants told CNN. Now, they wait to learn if they will be sent back to the countries they fled or to another nation willing to receive them. But the conditions they have faced are distressing and may have violated their rights, the lawyers said. The migrants started arriving in Panama City last week after being deported from the US. Some didn't even know they were being flown to another country until they actually landed in Panama, according to attorney Ali Herischi, who said 'they were told they're going to Texas.' The migrants were then sent to the Decapolis Hotel and forced to stay there for days without stepping foot outside. Jenny Soto Fernández, a Panamanian lawyer who represents about 24 migrants from India and Iran, said her clients were living in isolation, fear and uncertainty. She said a lot of them didn't know their rights and weren't given orders of removal upon being deported. They also face language barriers and are constantly worried about being repatriated, she added. One of the migrants is Artemis Ghasemzadeh, an Iranian national who fled her country out of fear of persecution because of her conversion to Christianity. 'Under Islamic law, you cannot convert from Islam to any other religion,' said Herischi, who represents her. Ghasemzadeh now worries her life will be at risk if she's returned to Iran. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN on Tuesday. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' At the hotel, some migrants tried to voice their concerns by sending distress signals to journalists gathered outside. Standing in front of their windows, they held up pieces of paper with handwritten notes begging for support. 'Please help us,' one sign read. 'We are not (safe) in our country.' Another message was written with lipstick directly on the window. 'HELP US,' it read in bold, red letters. The migrants were not allowed to leave the hotel 'for their own protection,' Panama's Security Minister Frank Ábrego told a local radio program on Wednesday. He said they were held at the hotel, in part, because officials needed to 'effectively verify who these people are who are arriving in our country.' Soto argues that the migrants have the right to seek asylum because they're fleeing persecution. 'These people that are requesting refugee (status) — it's not because they want to come here on an adventure or a trip. No, they're escaping. They're victims of violence and persecution,' she told CNN. Soto said she tried at least four times to meet her clients at the hotel to sign legal documents required by authorities but was blocked by officials and never made it past the lobby. Soto sent CNN a video filmed by her clients, showing her waving to them from the hotel staircase below, trying to reach them to hand them the paperwork. But the clients were prevented from going down and Soto was told to leave. 'They actually were so emotional, screaming and said, 'I want my lawyer! I want her. I want to talk to her. I don't want to talk to these people here,'' Soto said. Attorney Susana Sabalza told CNN she represents a family from Taiwan who was held at the hotel for five days without knowing what was happening. She said that while they had comfortable beds and a place to stay, they were under 'psychological pressure being closed in with security guards, immigration police, (and) officers there.' CNN has reached out to Panama's security ministry, as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who are involved in the repatriation efforts. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied that authorities have violated any laws. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino insisted. Security Minister Ábrego said Wednesday that he hadn't heard of any migrants requesting asylum there. 'But if they think they have the need, as any human being would, to request asylum, we have to pay attention to it and approve or disapprove it,' he added. CNN has reached out to Panama's National Office for Refugee Assistance to determine if anyone has filed an asylum claim. The Panamanian government said that from Tuesday to Wednesday, about 97 migrants were taken out of the hotel and bused to a remote holding camp on the outskirts of the Darién Jungle. It happened after a New York Times report exposed the desperation of those stranded in the hotel in Panama City. The miracle that Ghasemzadeh had hoped for didn't come. Hours after talking to CNN, she became one of those transferred to the camp. Her relatives said she learned late Tuesday night that she would be moved out of the hotel with about 12 other people, and that she didn't know where authorities would take her at the time. Herischi, who represents Ghasemzadeh and nine other refugees, told CNN that his clients ended up being detained in a 'very bad' camp. He said they described the site as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. One family has a sick child who could be heard crying in the background during a call between Herischi and Panamanian officials. Sabalza said the family she represents was also taken to the camp. 'It's complicated because there are children five years old (and) it's a tropical place,' she told CNN. She said Panamanian authorities had not yet provided them with guidelines on how the attorneys would be able to visit their clients at the camp or if they would need special permits to enter. 'It is urgent for us to have clarity about the mental and physical health status of our (clients),' she said. When the migrants arrived at the gate on Wednesday morning, Herischi said the situation was so unorganized that the guards didn't even have a list of the migrants' names to identify them upon arrival. The guards later confiscated all the migrants' cell phones. 'It shows that (it's) such an unorganized and never-thought-of (situation,) and just ad hoc political decision to accept this, but they don't know what to do with them,' he told CNN. He added that he plans to file legal action against Panama and the US in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and US federal court. More than 100 migrants have asked not to be repatriated, Panamanian officials have said. The IOM is expected to work with them and try to find a third country that will accept them, Security Minister Ábrego said. Meanwhile, President Mulino said another group of migrants would be sent to the camp because 'that's where they can be more at ease.' He added that 175 migrants who are still in the hotel have voluntarily agreed to return to their countries of origin. At least 13 have already been sent back. Herischi said Panamanian authorities assured him they would not send Ghasemzadeh and other migrants back to Iran if they expressed fear of reprisals. Instead, officials said they would speak with the embassies of other countries to see if they can accept them. Herischi concluded, 'The only 'luck' that they got is that Panama has no relationship with Iran, so there is no Iranian embassy there.' 'That's a good thing.'
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘We are in danger': Migrants deported from US were locked in hotel and held at remote camp in Panama, lawyers say
For days, they say they were locked inside a hotel in Panama, surrounded by tight security with limited contact with the outside world. Nearly 300 migrants from Asia, all deported by the US, were held there by Panamanian authorities who agreed to take them in and eventually repatriate them. It's part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. Some migrants have been transferred to a remote camp at the edge of a jungle that few can access, lawyers representing some of the migrants told CNN. Now, they wait to learn if they will be sent back to the countries they fled or to another nation willing to receive them. But the conditions they have faced are distressing and may have violated their rights, the lawyers said. The migrants started arriving in Panama City last week after being deported from the US. Some didn't even know they were being flown to another country until they actually landed in Panama, according to attorney Ali Herischi, who said 'they were told they're going to Texas.' The migrants were then sent to the Decapolis Hotel and forced to stay there for days without stepping foot outside. Jenny Soto Fernández, a Panamanian lawyer who represents about 24 migrants from India and Iran, said her clients were living in isolation, fear and uncertainty. She said a lot of them didn't know their rights and weren't given orders of removal upon being deported. They also face language barriers and are constantly worried about being repatriated, she added. One of the migrants is Artemis Ghasemzadeh, an Iranian national who fled her country out of fear of persecution because of her conversion to Christianity. 'Under Islamic law, you cannot convert from Islam to any other religion,' said Herischi, who represents her. Ghasemzadeh now worries her life will be at risk if she's returned to Iran. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN on Tuesday. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' At the hotel, some migrants tried to voice their concerns by sending distress signals to journalists gathered outside. Standing in front of their windows, they held up pieces of paper with handwritten notes begging for support. 'Please help us,' one sign read. 'We are not (safe) in our country.' Another message was written with lipstick directly on the window. 'HELP US,' it read in bold, red letters. The migrants were not allowed to leave the hotel 'for their own protection,' Panama's Security Minister Frank Ábrego told a local radio program on Wednesday. He said they were held at the hotel, in part, because officials needed to 'effectively verify who these people are who are arriving in our country.' Soto argues that the migrants have the right to seek asylum because they're fleeing persecution. 'These people that are requesting refugee (status) — it's not because they want to come here on an adventure or a trip. No, they're escaping. They're victims of violence and persecution,' she told CNN. Soto said she tried at least four times to meet her clients at the hotel to sign legal documents required by authorities but was blocked by officials and never made it past the lobby. Soto sent CNN a video filmed by her clients, showing her waving to them from the hotel staircase below, trying to reach them to hand them the paperwork. But the clients were prevented from going down and Soto was told to leave. 'They actually were so emotional, screaming and said, 'I want my lawyer! I want her. I want to talk to her. I don't want to talk to these people here,'' Soto said. Attorney Susana Sabalza told CNN she represents a family from Taiwan who was held at the hotel for five days without knowing what was happening. She said that while they had comfortable beds and a place to stay, they were under 'psychological pressure being closed in with security guards, immigration police, (and) officers there.' CNN has reached out to Panama's security ministry, as well as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who are involved in the repatriation efforts. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied that authorities have violated any laws. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino insisted. Security Minister Ábrego said Wednesday that he hadn't heard of any migrants requesting asylum there. 'But if they think they have the need, as any human being would, to request asylum, we have to pay attention to it and approve or disapprove it,' he added. CNN has reached out to Panama's National Office for Refugee Assistance to determine if anyone has filed an asylum claim. The Panamanian government said that from Tuesday to Wednesday, about 97 migrants were taken out of the hotel and bused to a remote holding camp on the outskirts of the Darién Jungle. It happened after a New York Times report exposed the desperation of those stranded in the hotel in Panama City. The miracle that Ghasemzadeh had hoped for didn't come. Hours after talking to CNN, she became one of those transferred to the camp. Her relatives said she learned late Tuesday night that she would be moved out of the hotel with about 12 other people, and that she didn't know where authorities would take her at the time. Herischi, who represents Ghasemzadeh and nine other refugees, told CNN that his clients ended up being detained in a 'very bad' camp. He said they described the site as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. One family has a sick child who could be heard crying in the background during a call between Herischi and Panamanian officials. Sabalza said the family she represents was also taken to the camp. 'It's complicated because there are children five years old (and) it's a tropical place,' she told CNN. She said Panamanian authorities had not yet provided them with guidelines on how the attorneys would be able to visit their clients at the camp or if they would need special permits to enter. 'It is urgent for us to have clarity about the mental and physical health status of our (clients),' she said. When the migrants arrived at the gate on Wednesday morning, Herischi said the situation was so unorganized that the guards didn't even have a list of the migrants' names to identify them upon arrival. The guards later confiscated all the migrants' cell phones. 'It shows that (it's) such an unorganized and never-thought-of (situation,) and just ad hoc political decision to accept this, but they don't know what to do with them,' he told CNN. He added that he plans to file legal action against Panama and the US in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and US federal court. More than 100 migrants have asked not to be repatriated, Panamanian officials have said. The IOM is expected to work with them and try to find a third country that will accept them, Security Minister Ábrego said. Meanwhile, President Mulino said another group of migrants would be sent to the camp because 'that's where they can be more at ease.' He added that 175 migrants who are still in the hotel have voluntarily agreed to return to their countries of origin. At least 13 have already been sent back. Herischi said Panamanian authorities assured him they would not send Ghasemzadeh and other migrants back to Iran if they expressed fear of reprisals. Instead, officials said they would speak with the embassies of other countries to see if they can accept them. Herischi concluded, 'The only 'luck' that they got is that Panama has no relationship with Iran, so there is no Iranian embassy there.' 'That's a good thing.'
