India gets consular access to deportees in Panama

Panama has informed India about the safe arrival of a group of Indians deported from the US and the Indian mission in the country is working closely with the host government to ensure their well-being after obtaining consular access to them.

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The Embassy of India in Panama, Costa Rica & Nicaragua took to X on Thursday to share the information but did not provide data on the number of Indians arriving in Panama.

The group of Indians is part of a larger group of 299 migrants sent to Panama by the US government.

These people arrived in the country on three flights last week after President Jose Raul Mulino agreed that Panama would become a “bridge” country for deportees. The Trump administration has pledged to deport millions of people who crossed illegally into the US.

“Panamanian authorities have informed us that a group of Indians have reached Panama from the US,” the Embassy of India in Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica posted on X.

“They are safe and secure at a hotel with all essential facilities. The embassy team has obtained consular access. We are working closely with the host government to ensure their well-being,” it said.

Three batches comprising a total of 332 Indians have already been sent back to India from the US amid an intensified crackdown by the Trump administration against illegal immigrants.

Of the 299 undocumented migrants who landed in Panama, only 171 have agreed to return to their countries of origin.

Ninety-eight deportees who refused to voluntarily be repatriated to their countries have been sent to a camp in Panama’s Darien province. Costa Rica is the second country that agreed to serve as a “bridge” to repatriate illegal immigrants in the US. — PTI