February 15, 2025
The United States deported at least 12 Iranians on February 12 at the start of President Trump’s plan to rid US territory of all illegal aliens.
Many of the Iranians claimed to be political refugees and are insistent they must not be sent back to Iran, as Trump says they will be.
The dozen Iranians were part of a flight of 119 Asian immigrants the US military flew to Panama, including people from Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Turkiye, Pakistan and China, as well as Iran.
They are now in a hotel in Panama’s capital but are to be deposited at a camp in the Darien Gap, a jungle area between Colombia and Panama, for an unknown period of time before they can be moved back to their home countries.
The deportees told reporters they were shackled and handcuffed during the transfer and then confined to a Panamanian hotel under US government oversight.
It is not clear how many applied for political asylum in the US, but some report being stranded without money, internet access, or legal counsel, and they fear being sent back to Iran.
Among them is Artemis Ghasemzadeh, who told Iran International TV that she and others were initially told they were being moved to a camp in Texas because there was no place to keep them in California, where they had been arrested.
Ghasemzadeh described their current confinement, saying, “We are monitored, denied legal help, and terrified we might be sent back to Iran.”
Ghasemzadeh also said that many of the group had entered the US legally before or shortly after Trump took office. “The US says we are illegal immigrants, but we are not. We have all approved documents,” she said.
The deportees say they fled Iran to escape persecution for their involvement in anti-government protests or religious conversion to Christianity.
Several Iranian asylum seekers report entering the US through the Tijuana border between one week to one month ago. “I myself am a protester from Iran. I have a case. I can’t go back,” one of the deportees stated. “Each came because of different massacres.”
Individuals with medical conditions were identified with red bracelets during the approximately seven-hour flight from the US to Panama, according to the video on social media.
Following the release of the video, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baqai condemned the treatment, calling it “inappropriate and humiliating” and “a violation of human rights standards.”
He confirmed that Iran’s diplomatic missions across South America have been instructed to assist affected nationals and that the Iranian government would “take all the necessary measures to protect Iranian citizens abroad.”
“Iran is the homeland of all Iranians, and our compatriots can freely return to their homeland,” Baqai stated, indicating Iran’s readiness to facilitate returns.