Indians among 300 US deportees seen crying for help from Panama hotel

A group of almost 300 migrants, including Indians who were deported from the United States under President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrations, are being held in a hotel in Panama's Darien jungle region. There migrants are mainly from Asian countries, including India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and China.

The migrants are not allowed to leave the hotel in which they are being housed, while the Panama government awaits international authorities to arrange their return back to their countries. As per the agreement between US and Panama, Security Minister Frank Abrego said they were receiving medical attention and food, according to a report by NDTV.

However a NYT report stated that, one deportee, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, 27, a migrant from Iran said, "It looks like a zoo; there are fenced cages," said "They gave us a stale piece of bread. We are sitting on the floor."

According to the report, deputy foreign minister of Panama, Carlos Ruiz-Hernandez, 97 people were transferred to the camp. He reiterated that they were not "detainees" "It's a migrant camp where they will be taken care off -- not a detention camp," he said.

Migrants in the hotel rooms held messages to the windows reading “Help" and “We are not save (sic) in our country." 40 per cent of the migrants are refusing to return to their home countries voluntarily as per the report.

Panama is acting as a transit country due to the difficulties that US is facing in deporting individuals directly to some countries. While Panama government acts as a "bridge," the US government is baring the cost of the options. This agreement between the two countries was announced after the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Panama. Trump's threat of retaking control of the Panama Canal is mounting pressure on Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino

Costa Rica is also expected to receive a group of deportees on Wednesday.

Abrego stated that 171 of the 299 deportees had agreed to return to their home countries with the help from the UN Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration. The remaining 128 migrants are still being processed, though, and attempts are being made to identify alternate locations for them.

While individuals who refuse to return to their home countries will be detained in a facility in the far-flung province of Darien for a while, one deported Irish person has already returned home.