Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said the 119 deportees on board would be moved to a shelter in the Darien region.
The first U.S. flight carrying deportees of different nationalities arrived in Panama this week as part of an agreement between the Trump administration and the Central American nation’s president.
“Yesterday, a flight from the United States Air Force arrived with 119 people from diverse nationalities of the world,” Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino confirmed during his weekly press briefing on Thursday.
He said that the deportees on board the flight were from Afghanistan, China, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The deportees will be moved to a shelter in Panama’s Darien region—a vast jungle territory that spans the border between Colombia and Panama—before being returned to their respective countries, according to the Panamanian president.
Mulino said Wednesday’s flight was the first of three planned flights transferring illegal immigrants from the United States to Panama under the agreement with the Trump administration.
A total of 360 deportees were expected to be transferred under the stopover deal, Mulino said.
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“It’s not something massive,” he told the press briefing.
The U.S. government is paying for the transfers through United Nations agencies, Panamanian Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Ruiz Hernández said on Thursday.
He said the deportees who arrived in the country on Wednesday had been detained after crossing the U.S. border.
The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for further comment.
Wednesday’s flight is part of the Trump administration’s latest effort to crack down on illegal immigration in the United States, a key promise Trump heavily campaigned on leading up to last year’s elections.
The Associated Press reported that the planes returned to Venezuela with about 190 deportees on board.
Some of the deportees on board were allegedly linked to criminal activities or involved in crimes associated with the Tren de Aragua gang, according to Venezuelan Minister of Information and Communication Freddy Náñez.
The governments of El Salvador and Guatemala have also agreed to accept deportees from other nations, effectively expanding U.S. capacity to speedily deport illegal immigrants.
Panama Canal
Wednesday’s arrival of deportees in Panama comes amid Trump’s calls for the United States to reclaim control of the Panama Canal, which was built by the United States in the early 20th century and transferred to Panama in 1999.
The strategically important canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Mulino has rejected the idea and initially disputed claims by Trump and other U.S. officials regarding alleged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence over the canal.
Trump has accused the country of failing to maintain the canal’s neutrality, a requirement established by the 1977 Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama Canal.
“I do not feel that there is any real threat at this time against the [neutrality] treaty, its validity,” the Panamanian leader said following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month.
Mulino also said that Panama would not renew its memorandum of understanding with the CCP to remain part of the Belt and Road Initiative and announced expanded cooperation with the United States on illegal immigration.
The Panamanian leader has reiterated that his country’s sovereignty over the world’s second busiest waterway is not up for discussion.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
