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CNN
08-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Panama offers temporary reprieve for 112 migrants deported by US
Panama will allow more than a hundred undocumented immigrants deported by the United States to stay in the country for at least another 30 days, Security Minister Frank Ábrego said on Friday. The group, mainly from countries in Asia and the Middle East, will receive temporary humanitarian permits for one month that could be extended up to 90 days, Ábrego told reporters, adding that the individuals had declined repatriation help from the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration. They were among an original group of nearly 300 migrants sent to Panama from the US as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. CNN has previously reported that the group includes asylum seekers who say they are fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries. The remaining group of 112 deportees includes nine people from Afghanistan, 12 from China, 24 from Iran and two from Russia, Ábrego said. Many of the group have been held in a makeshift camp near the remote Darien jungle. Attorney Ali Herischi, who represents Iranian asylum seeker Artemis Ghasemzadeh and nine other clients in the camp, told CNN on Friday that they remained there and were afraid to sign paperwork to leave, because 'the exact terms of the release today are unclear.' Ghasemzadeh fled Iran out of fear of persecution after converting to Christianity, and fears her life will be at risk if she is forced to return. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN in February. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' A group of lawyers representing the deportees – who previously filed suit against Panama in the Inter-American Commision on Human Rights – welcomed Friday's decision 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 lawsuit, the Panamanian government has changed course – they have made a commitment not to deport our clients and to release them from incommunicado and arbitrary detention,' said Silvia Serna Roman, an attorney and co-counsel in the case, in the statement. 'Our primary concern is that the government offers no solution to our clients who cannot return to their countries due to a fear of persecution.' Among the deportees are several children and dozens of people who fear persecution back home, including on the basis of their religion or their sexual or gender identity, according to the lawyers' statement and a summary document seen by CNN. The migrants were originally confined to a hotel in Panama City, before some were moved to the remote camp, which Herischi described as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has repeatedly denied that authorities have violated the deportees' rights in accepting their deportation or confining them while in Panama. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino has said. CNN's Yong Xiong, Caitlin Danaher, Michael Rios and Omar Jimenez contributed reporting.
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Panama offers temporary reprieve for 112 migrants deported by US
Panama will allow more than a hundred undocumented immigrants deported by the United States to stay in the country for at least another 30 days, Security Minister Frank Ábrego said on Friday. The group, mainly from countries in Asia and the Middle East, will receive temporary humanitarian permits for one month that could be extended up to 90 days, Ábrego told reporters, adding that the individuals had declined repatriation help from the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration. They were among an original group of nearly 300 migrants sent to Panama from the US as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. CNN has previously reported that the group includes asylum seekers who say they are fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries. The remaining group of 112 deportees includes nine people from Afghanistan, 12 from China, 24 from Iran and two from Russia, Ábrego said. Many of the group have been held in a makeshift camp near the remote Darien jungle. Attorney Ali Herischi, who represents Iranian asylum seeker Artemis Ghasemzadeh and nine other clients in the camp, told CNN on Friday that they remained there and were afraid to sign paperwork to leave, because 'the exact terms of the release today are unclear.' Ghasemzadeh fled Iran out of fear of persecution after converting to Christianity, and fears her life will be at risk if she is forced to return. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN in February. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' A group of lawyers representing the deportees – who previously filed suit against Panama in the Inter-American Commision on Human Rights – welcomed Friday's decision 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 lawsuit, the Panamanian government has changed course – they have made a commitment not to deport our clients and to release them from incommunicado and arbitrary detention,' said Silvia Serna Roman, an attorney and co-counsel in the case, in the statement. 'Our primary concern is that the government offers no solution to our clients who cannot return to their countries due to a fear of persecution.' Among the deportees are several children and dozens of people who fear persecution back home, including on the basis of their religion or their sexual or gender identity, according to the lawyers' statement and a summary document seen by CNN. The migrants were originally confined to a hotel in Panama City, before some were moved to the remote camp, which Herischi described as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has repeatedly denied that authorities have violated the deportees' rights in accepting their deportation or confining them while in Panama. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino has said. CNN's Yong Xiong, Caitlin Danaher, Michael Rios and Omar Jimenez contributed reporting.
CNN
08-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Panama offers temporary reprieve for 112 migrants deported by US
Panama will allow more than a hundred undocumented immigrants deported by the United States to stay in the country for at least another 30 days, Security Minister Frank Ábrego said on Friday. The group, mainly from countries in Asia and the Middle East, will receive temporary humanitarian permits for one month that could be extended up to 90 days, Ábrego told reporters, adding that the individuals had declined repatriation help from the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration. They were among an original group of nearly 300 migrants sent to Panama from the US as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. CNN has previously reported that the group includes asylum seekers who say they are fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries. The remaining group of 112 deportees includes nine people from Afghanistan, 12 from China, 24 from Iran and two from Russia, Ábrego said. Many of the group have been held in a makeshift camp near the remote Darien jungle. Attorney Ali Herischi, who represents Iranian asylum seeker Artemis Ghasemzadeh and nine other clients in the camp, told CNN on Friday that they remained there and were afraid to sign paperwork to leave, because 'the exact terms of the release today are unclear.' Ghasemzadeh fled Iran out of fear of persecution after converting to Christianity, and fears her life will be at risk if she is forced to return. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN in February. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' A group of lawyers representing the deportees – who previously filed suit against Panama in the Inter-American Commision on Human Rights – welcomed Friday's decision 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 lawsuit, the Panamanian government has changed course – they have made a commitment not to deport our clients and to release them from incommunicado and arbitrary detention,' said Silvia Serna Roman, an attorney and co-counsel in the case, in the statement. 'Our primary concern is that the government offers no solution to our clients who cannot return to their countries due to a fear of persecution.' Among the deportees are several children and dozens of people who fear persecution back home, including on the basis of their religion or their sexual or gender identity, according to the lawyers' statement and a summary document seen by CNN. The migrants were originally confined to a hotel in Panama City, before some were moved to the remote camp, which Herischi described as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has repeatedly denied that authorities have violated the deportees' rights in accepting their deportation or confining them while in Panama. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino has said. CNN's Yong Xiong, Caitlin Danaher, Michael Rios and Omar Jimenez contributed reporting.
CNN
08-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Panama offers temporary reprieve for 112 migrants deported by US
Panama will allow more than a hundred undocumented immigrants deported by the United States to stay in the country for at least another 30 days, Security Minister Frank Ábrego said on Friday. The group, mainly from countries in Asia and the Middle East, will receive temporary humanitarian permits for one month that could be extended up to 90 days, Ábrego told reporters, adding that the individuals had declined repatriation help from the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration. They were among an original group of nearly 300 migrants sent to Panama from the US as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign, which it has pressured Latin American nations to help with. CNN has previously reported that the group includes asylum seekers who say they are fleeing violence or persecution in their home countries. The remaining group of 112 deportees includes nine people from Afghanistan, 12 from China, 24 from Iran and two from Russia, Ábrego said. Many of the group have been held in a makeshift camp near the remote Darien jungle. Attorney Ali Herischi, who represents Iranian asylum seeker Artemis Ghasemzadeh and nine other clients in the camp, told CNN on Friday that they remained there and were afraid to sign paperwork to leave, because 'the exact terms of the release today are unclear.' Ghasemzadeh fled Iran out of fear of persecution after converting to Christianity, and fears her life will be at risk if she is forced to return. 'We are in danger,' she said in text messages to CNN in February. 'We are waiting for (a) miracle.' A group of lawyers representing the deportees – who previously filed suit against Panama in the Inter-American Commision on Human Rights – welcomed Friday's decision 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 lawsuit, the Panamanian government has changed course – they have made a commitment not to deport our clients and to release them from incommunicado and arbitrary detention,' said Silvia Serna Roman, an attorney and co-counsel in the case, in the statement. 'Our primary concern is that the government offers no solution to our clients who cannot return to their countries due to a fear of persecution.' Among the deportees are several children and dozens of people who fear persecution back home, including on the basis of their religion or their sexual or gender identity, according to the lawyers' statement and a summary document seen by CNN. The migrants were originally confined to a hotel in Panama City, before some were moved to the remote camp, which Herischi described as tough and dirty, with limited access to medication and the internet. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has repeatedly denied that authorities have violated the deportees' rights in accepting their deportation or confining them while in Panama. 'These organizations are respectful of human rights. It's false and I deny that we are mistreating them,' Mulino has said. CNN's Yong Xiong, Caitlin Danaher, Michael Rios and Omar Jimenez contributed reporting.
Chicago Tribune
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Panama to allow 112 migrants deported from the US to move about freely in the country
PANAMA CITY — Panama announced Friday that it will allow 112 migrants deported from the United States who have been held in a remote camp in the Darien region since last month to move about the country freely until they decide on their next course of action. Panama's Security Minister Frank Ábrego said the migrants — from a number of mostly Asian nations — would be granted temporary humanitarian passes as documents. They would find their own places to stay while they decide where they are going next, Ábrego said, without elaborating. The passes would last for an initial 30 days but could be renewed, he added. 'They have exactly 30 days to figure out how to leave Panama, because they refused … to accept help from the (International Organization for Migration) and (the U.N. Refugee Agency) and said that they wanted to do it themselves,' Ábrego said, speaking to reporters outside a security conference Friday. 'Panama has decided to respect this,' he also said. Panama has come under pressure from human rights groups for holding the migrants without their passports or cell phones in harsh conditions. Lawyers had petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on their behalf. Most of the migrants had been moved to the camp in San Vicente on Feb. 19, from a hotel in Panama City where they had initially been held under police guard. Migrants who agreed to voluntarily return to their countries remained at the hotel and those who didn't were sent to the camp in the Darien. The camp had originally been established for the hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama in recent years as they made their way toward the U.S. border. However, President Donald Trump shut down access to asylum and other legal routes at the U.S. southern border in January, forcing many migrants already in transit to reconsider their options. Panama and Costa Rica have reported seeing a reverse flow of migration in recent weeks as migrants begin moving south. The U.S. had sent 299 migrants to Panama as the Trump administration tried to accelerate deportations as part of a deal in which countries like Panama and Costa Rica act as 'bridges,' temporarily detaining deportees while they await return to their countries of origin or third countries. Some of the migrants held in the hotel had held up handmade signs in their windows, asking for help. At the camp, a migrant who had a hidden cell phone had told an Associated Press reporter that they were sweltering, fighting ants and receiving no information about what would happen with them next. Originally Published: March 7, 2025 at 12:29 PM CST
