US deports Vietnamese and many Asian people to Panama

"Through a cooperation program with the US Government, a US Air Force flight carrying 119 people of various nationalities landed in Panama yesterday," Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said at a press conference on February 13.

This is the first of three planned flights, expected to take a total of about 360 migrants deported in the US to Panama. The first flight will include migrants from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, according to President Mulino.

"This is not a very large number," he said.

The migrants will be taken to a temporary facility in the Darien region, a jungle bordering Central America and South America that migrants often cross on their way to the United States, he added. They will then be repatriated.

Asked why Panama was becoming a destination for deportees from the United States, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Ruiz Hernandez said it was a request from the U.S. government. He added that Washington paid for the repatriation through the United Nations migration agency.

Those deported on February 12 were previously detained for entering the US illegally and had no criminal record, according to Hernandez.

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Panama to meet with President Mulino. In addition to the main issue of control of the Panama Canal, the two sides also discussed Panama’s efforts to curb migration through Darien. Mulino offered to let Panama act as a conduit for deportees from the US to return home.

Thanks to bilateral cooperation between the United States and Panama, the number of migrants passing through Darien in January decreased by 90% compared to the same period last year, said Panama's Deputy Minister of Security Luis Icaza.

Commenting on measures to deport immigrants who illegally crossed the border into the US at a press conference on February 13, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said that "recently, the reception of Vietnamese citizens deported by the US has been carried out on the basis of agreements to receive back citizens signed between the two countries. The two countries have had close, quick and timely coordination on this issue."

Ms. Hang said Vietnam is ready to cooperate with the US in receiving back its citizens in the spirit of signed agreements, and hopes that the US will create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to reside, contributing to the development and prosperity of the US as well as the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Vietnam supports and creates conditions for citizens to live, work and study abroad on the basis of compliance with Vietnamese and local laws, as well as international law and practices, the Foreign Ministry spokesman emphasized.