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US Border Shutdown and Deportation Flights Lead to Humanitarian Crisis in Panama

The consequences of the new US Administration anti-immigration policies are unraveling fast. The immediate closure of the US border to asylum seekers and the apprehension of undocumented migrants later placed on deportation flights has led to a brewing humanitarian crisis in Panama. Three deportation flights have landed in Panama City since February 12th with over 300 people from various Asian nationalities ([link removed]), whose nations refuse to receive deportation flights coming directly from the US. None of these migrants have committed any crime and were deported only for being undocumented without any due process. Many of them now fear for their lives if they are sent back to their home countries.

San Vicente Migration Reception Center in Darien, Panama

Panama Canal

They were kept in a hotel in Panama City ([link removed]) before being bused to the San Vicente migrant reception center in the Darien to wait for a flight home leaving from the airstrip in the town of Meteti. How long will they wait there is anyone's guess and our partners in Panama who are monitoring all these events report improvisation and an absence of any plan of action from Panamanian authorities. The local government is complying, under coercion from the US, to avoid further threats over the Panama Canal and trade agreements. This bully diplomacy has even prompted neighboring Costa Rica to proactively collaborate ([link removed]) with the US government's deportation efforts to avoid any retaliation from their major trade partners. Unlike Panama, Costa Rica is opened to receive asylum requests ([link removed]) from the deportees on a case-by-case basis. Local populations in Panama have reacted with bewilderment, not understanding why the US does not deport people directly to their home countries. There are also many questions surrounding the role of the International Organization for Migration, which is instrumental in the implementation of the US deportation plans.

In addition to the deportation flights, many of the 270,000 asylum seekers ([link removed]) who were left stranded in Mexico after the termination of the CBP One app are voluntarily heading back to their home country. As they arrive at the Costa Rica-Panama border, they have the choice of registering in a "temporary migrant reception center" (Centro de Atención Temporal de Migrantes or CATEM) on the Costa Rica side where they are then bused down to San Vicente in the Darien. Our partners tell us that nobody has been granted access to the CATEM to report on how people are being treated there. Most Venezuelan migrants have no intention of returning to Venezuela and turn down registering at the CATEM. Instead, they take alternate routes through Panama to avoid the various check points, paying cartel guides or "coyotes" to reach Colombia by boat. If Panamanian authorities intercept them, they are brought back to the Costa Rica border and pressured to enter the CATEM.

Rafa Lara at the Panama-Costa Rica Border

This situation reached a boiling point when the first caravan with hundreds ([link removed]) of migrants forced their way through the Costa Rica-Panama border in Paso Canoas. They were confronted by local authorities and clearly frustrated and emotional when threatened with being sent back to the Darien jungle, where many of them survived horrible ordeals. The coordinator of Red Clamor, Rafa Lara, was invited to the local TV news ([link removed]) to report on this event and urge authorities to guarantee that people on the move are treated with dignity.

With Quixote Center's support, our partners with the Franciscan Network for Migrants and Red Clamor are currently addressing this humanitarian crisis by reactivating a meal program in Paso Canoas and distributing a total of 1,850 hygiene kits for men, women and children on the move. They are also being trained to implement best practices as human rights observers and nonviolence through a training of trainer program Quixote Center is sponsoring. These skills are essential to protect the people on the move whether they are returning home to the south or emerging from the Darien jungle heading north, a trend that has fallen to 90% of its level at the same time last year.

As Panama continues to be a focal point in the migration route to and from the US, Quixote Center will continue to support our partners, helping them strengthen their capacity to respond to this humanitarian crisis. In a month from now, we will be taking a delegation of ten immigration experts on a Solidarity Trip throughout Panama to speak with human right advocates on the ground and people on the move to better understand the situation. We will be sharing our findings through written reports and webinars to bring more visibility on the effects of US anti-immigrant policies and strengthen our advocacy mission.

If you wish to comment on this article, we invite you to visit our blog post by clicking HERE ([link removed]).

Meal Program for Migrants at the Panama-Costa Rica Border

 

Statement from Red Clamor Panama
Facing the new migratory and national scenario
Being a bridge for the deportation of human beings is a reflection of the policies of discarding and exclusion

The organizations that are part of the Ecclesial Network of Migration, Refuge, Displacement and Trafficking of Persons in Panama (CLAMOR) express our concern about the following conditions in which the processes of repatriation of migrants in Panama are taking place:

• That our authorities provide information on the conditions and actions to which the Panamanian State is obliged, regarding persons deported from the USA, through the Memorandum of Understanding or the "Pre-Agreements" established with this country, in a clear, transparent and empathetic manner to avoid causing uncertainty and fear to migrants and the community in general.
• Conduct an exhaustive case-by-case study of those who have been deported by the U.S. so that international protection can be guaranteed to those who require it, and implement policies and practices that respect their rights and recognize their humanity.
• It is important to recognize that there are two highly vulnerable populations in this reality. Those who initially began the south-north route from South America and for various reasons have been socially trapped and, in the face securitization and containment measures, have been forced to begin their return in precarious conditions and without guarantees of respect for their minimum rights and dignity. They are joined by the populations that were detained in the U.S. from very diverse Asian countries such as China, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and India. They are victims of measures that force them to stay in a country to which they had not decided to migrate.
• This particular condition aggravates their situation by not allowing them counseling, legal and emotional support. They have not committed any administrative or criminal offense in the country, yet their mobility is restricted and they are forced to arrive in a country against their will.
• Pope Francis has pointed out that any state that collaborates with "any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality" becomes an accomplice. Insisting that "What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth of the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly".

Continue reading the statement by clicking on the language of your choice: ENGLISH ([link removed]) - SPANISH ([link removed])

 

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