On Saturday, a group of high -profile lawyers intended a cause against Panama for the possession of migrants deported from the United States, threatening to interrupt the new policy of President Trump to export migrants from all over the world to Central American countries.
The cause, intended against the Panama government before the Intemeralian Commission on human rights, appoints 10 Christian Iranian converts and 102 migrants held in a field close to a jungle in Panama as a complaints, according to a copy seen by the New York Times.
The cause claims that the United States violated the Iranian group’s law to kindergarten due to religious persecution and that Panama has violated national and international laws, such as the American convention on human rights, in its detention of migrants.
The case was intended only against Panama, although one of the lawyers involved said he planned to submit a separate complaint against the United States National Security Department next week.
Responding to a request for commentary on the cause, a spokesman for President Raúl Mulino di Panama, Astrid Salazar, said that migrants “are not detained” by the Panamense government. “I’m not at our command but rather to that of Iom and UNHCR.”
Migrants are held in a fenced field kept by Panamensi armed police officers and Panama’s security ministry controls all access to the structure. The international organization for migration and the United Nations Agency do not have a regular presence in the field and have said they are not responsible for migrants, but rather offer certain humanitarian support, such as providing funds for food.
The cause presented on Saturday asks that the Commission issues an emergency orders, stating that none of migrants held in the field of jungle should be deported to their countries of origin.
“The Panama government does not have national or international authority to retain people in these circumstances,” said Ian Kysel, clinical professor of associated law at the Cornell Law School and the main legal consultant.
In mid -February the Trump administration opened a new front in its efforts to expel millions of people by sending migrants recently arrived from all over the world to Central America. About 300 people were transported to Panama and were held in a hotel in Panama City, including the 10 Iranian converts, among them several children.
More than 100 people who have not agreed to return to their countries of origin were subsequently transferred to a detention camp near Darién jungle, where they remain.
Since then the Trump administration has thanked Panama for his assistance in facing the challenges of migration. But the arrival of the deportees and their detention created problems for the government of Mr. Mulino, who agreed to take migrants but received criticism from the United Nations, activists and lawyers for human rights for keeping them without criminal accusations.
The Human Rights Commission is an organ of seven members whose decisions apply to members of the organization of American states, including Panama. It is designed to be used when individuals feel that their domestic legal options have been exhausted or in cases where the irreparable damage is imminent and complaints claim to need rapid legal protections.
The Commission cannot impose sanctions, but ignoring its decisions could lead to political risks.
José Miguel Vivanco, expert on Latin American human rights and Council companions for foreign relations, said that if the commission had pronounced in favor of the complaints, he thought that Panama would comply.
If the Commission decides in favor of the complaints, stopping their deportations, it could make more difficult for Mr. Trump convince leaders to Panama and elsewhere to take migrants that the United States does not want to face.
After sending migrants to Panama, the Trump administration sent 200 migrants from Central Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe to Costa Rica, including dozens of children. As in Panama, migrants are held in a remote structure for several hours of cars from the capital.
Kysel said that similar legal actions are expected against other countries in Latin America, including Costa Rica, who are collaborating with Mr. Trump and accept deportees.
In both cases, Central American governments said they have planned to expel people quickly in their countries of origin. In the case, lawyers argue that for Iranian Christians deportation would bring an “irrefutable damage”, because the Iranian law establishes that conversion from Islam is a crime punishable by death.
“I’m afraid of what will happen to me at the hands of the Panama government,” said one of the Iranians, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, in a security declaration presented in the cause. “I still want to look for asylum in the United States and pursue a free life as a Christian there.”
Ms. Ghasemzadeh, 27, who fled from Iran in December and made his way from Mexico through the border with the southern United States, advertised their ordeal in interviews with the media. He attracted global attention for the first time when a video in which he said he was chains and deported to Panama spread widely online.
The Commission generally issues decisions in such cases in a few days, said Vivanco.
The opinion for the Commission to issue protections to the sued is very high, he said. But given Iran’s policy towards converted Christians, he thought that the case had a chance. “I think this will get the attention of all the subjects involved,” he said.
Kysel said he hoped that the cause discouraged other countries from participation in the expulsion plans of Mr. Trump.
“Panama and any other country in the region face legal liability if they receive, hold and hold asylum seekers summarily expelled from the United States,” said Kysel.
The cause is the result of the collaboration between lawyers and legal groups in several countries.
One of the lawyers, Ali Hischi, who represents the Iranian Pro Bono, said he intended to intent on a separate cause this week against the National Security Department. The cause would be on behalf of Mrs. Ghasemzadeh and the nine Iranian Christian converts, three of whom are children, in Panama and three Iranians deported to Costa Rica.
A spokesman for the National Security Department has previously said that none of the migrants had “affirmed the fear of returning to his country of origin at any time during processing or custody”.
Mrs. Ghasemzadeh claims to have repeatedly asked to fill in paper works for kindergarten, but immigration officials in the field in California It wasn’t time.
Hischi said that the motion will challenge the legality of their deportation and requests as a remedy that the group can request asylum in the United States.