The migrants sent to Darien had refused to voluntarily be repatriated to their countries and will be held there until third countries can be found to take them, said the Panamanian official familiar with the situation who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
They were part of a larger group of 299 migrants to Panama by the US government as the administration of US President Donald Trump tries to accelerate deportations.
Also read: Migrants in Panama deported from US moved to Darien jungle region
The others remained under police guard in a Panama City hotel awaiting travel arrangements to their countries. The Panamanian government has denied that they are detained, but they are under police guard and not allowed to leave the hotel.
Panama’s National Immigration Service had announced earlier Wednesday that one migrant, a Chinese woman, had escaped the hotel, but later authorities reported her recapture.
Security Minister Frank Abrego wrote on a post on social platform X that she was found abandoned near a migrant processing facility along the northern Panama-Costa Rica border, a high-transit point for migrants headed toward the US. While it was not clear if she was found in Panama or in Costa Rica, he blamed her brief escape on “human traffickers.”
The deportees, primarily from Asian countries, are in a sort of limbo in Panama after the Central American nation agreed to serve as a transit point for migrants who are hard for the Trump administration to deport directly to their countries.
Abrego had said on Tuesday that 171 of the migrants had agreed to return to their countries of origin, although he did not provide a specific timeline. He also noted that an Irish citizen had already been repatriated.
Also read: ‘Took loans, sold land’: How Indian illegal migrants’ American dream shattered
The remaining migrants would be sent to a temporary migration facility near the Darien Gap, a heavily forested region along the Colombian border, until it’s clear where they will be sent. The region has historically been used by migrants from Venezuela and other countries to travel north to the US.
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