‘Help As’: Hundreds of people settled at Panama Hotel

In a room at the luxury Decapolis Hotel in Panama City, two girls place a piece of paper on the window with a written message. “Please help us,” it reads.

The hotel provides its customer room with sea scenes, two special restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa and private transport. But it is now a “temporary detention” center residence 299 unspecified migrants from the US, the Panaman Sarkar said on Tuesday.

Some migrants raise their arms and cross them on the wrist to indicate that they are deprived of their freedom. Other messages hang small signs with other messages such as: “We are not safe in our country.”

The Trump administration has promised millions of people who cross illegally in the US. The people of the Panama City Hotel reached three flights last week, President Jose Raul Mulino agreed that Panama would become a “bridge” country for the exile.

However, out of 299 unspecified migrants – India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – only 171 have agreed to return to their original countries.

The rest now face an uncertain future, and they are the Paman Officers who are under the control of what happens next.

According to the government, the group will be shifted to a camp in Darian province, which has temporarily kept the migrants crossing the Jungle N route to the US.

On a normal day, tourists can easily enter the Deckpolis Hotel and leave, but now the heavy armed members of Panmanian National Aaronwal service implement strict security measures inside and outside the building.

By road, laundry can be seen hanging in a window. One of the objects is the yellow los angeles and is with the number of 24, which is worn by the famous player Cobe Bryant.

In another window, a group of adults and three children raise their arms with their thumbs in their palms – there is an international symbol for those who require help. “Help us,” is written in red letters on the glass.

And two children with his face gave paper sheets against the glass with the message: “Please save the Afghan girls.”

An Iranian woman who has been living in Panama for many years told the BBC that she was in touch with a migrants inside the hotel. He said that he was “frightened” with the possibility of returning to Iran.

The woman, who did not take the name, said she went to the hotel to help her as a Persian translator, but was already said to be one.

However, he said that people inside the hotel said that it was not true.

Using a hidden mobile phone, since contact with people outside the Decapolis Hotel, the Iranian woman said that the migrants told her that there were many children in the hotel, that they were denied a lawyer And they do not allow them to leave their rooms to eat.

The woman said that the story of exile in the hotel was reported for the first time on Tuesday, the security measures were tightened and the migrants were cut on the Internet.

The BBC contacted both Deckpolis Hotel and the Panamanian government to ask about the conditions inside the building, but they did not get any response.

However, Panama’s Public Safety Minister Frank ábrego said that migrants are not allowed to leave the hotel as their government should guarantee the safety and peace of the Panamanis.

In a video posted on social media on weekend, one of the migrants describing in Persian was shown how he was detained after crossing the border in the US and told that he would be taken to Texas, but Panama in over.

In the video, the woman said that if she had returned to Iran due to the government’s possible reprimand, her life would have been in danger.

His intention, he said, ask for political asylum.

Analysts say it is difficult to achieve without access to a lawyer – even more when the Panaman government announced that this access would not be offered to exist.

Minister iGobrego said on Tuesday that the migrants would be temporarily in Panama under the patronage of the country officials.

He said, “What we have agreed with the US government is that they are here and will be in our temporary custody for their safety.”

He also warned that migrants who did not wish to return to their native country would have to choose a third country.

In that case, he said, International Organization Migration (IOM) and United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) will be responsible for their repatriation.

A spokesperson of the IOM told the BBC that the organization is in charge of “providing necessary support” to the exiles from the US.

“We are working with local authorities, who are supporting the voluntary withdrawal of those who are requested to help the affected people who request it and identify safe options for others,” he said.

“While we have no direct involvement in the custody or restriction of the movement of individuals, we are committed to ensure that all migrants are treated with dignity and according to international standards,” he said.

Ábrego also said that the migrants were being kept in the Deckpolis Hotel because they had the ability to get.

Another senior official said that “no more migrants are expected to arrive” because no other flights of this type have agreed with the US.

Panama agreed to become a “bridge” country for exile, when the US State Secretary Marco Rubio visited the country, as Tram’s dangers were stressed to “recover” the sovereignty of the Panama Canal.

Muzaffar Chishty, a senior researcher at the Migration Policy Institute – a think tank in the US – came from many deported nations, who are not open to accept the return of citizens exiled from the US.

“This is a constant diplomatic dialogue with those governments,” he told the BBC.

“By sending them to Panama, America is out of the picture,” he said. “This is a headache for Panama to take charge of those talks and see how to agree to regain those countries.”

This week, a flight from the United States is expected to come to Costa Rica, another Central American country, which agrees to become a “bridge” nation for deported with Washington.

Additional reporting by Shida Hosmandi, BBC Persian