The United States deports Asian migrants to Panama

In a step that may herald far faster removals of immigrants who have stayed in the United States because their countries have made it difficult to repatriate them, the Trump administration deported individuals from a number of Asian countries to Panama on Wednesday night, according to U.S. and Panamanian officials.  The military aircraft that took off from California with the migrants on board seems to be the first of its sort under the Trump administration. Families were among the more than 100 migrants on the flight who had illegally entered the US from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan.  The United States frequently finds it challenging to repatriate migrants to those countries. The president of Panama stated that they were being held in a nearby hotel and will soon be transferred to a shelter run by the International Organization for Migration in the eastern province of Darién.  He indicated they would be repatriated from there. Two more U.S. Air Force planes are anticipated to deliver approximately 360 deported migrants to Panama, according to President José Raúl Mulino.  He stated that he anticipated that the United States will cover all of the costs of their swift flight from Darién to their home nations.  Mr. Mulino did not provide an estimated time of arrival for the remaining flights.

Source: The New York Times