In furtive messages, sent through handmade signs, hidden phones and gestures behind glass, some of the migrants expressed a sense of constant, overwhelming fear.
Most did not want their faces to be seen, fearful of repercussions for being photographed by journalists. We did as much window-to-window communication as we could.
In the central room, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old migrant from Iran, scrawled “Help” on the window in lipstick. She was one of the few who did not conceal their face.
Outside, my colleague, the New York Times reporter Julie Turkewitz, held up a notebook with her phone number, written for the migrants to see from their rooms — and message if they could.
We learned that the 10 Iranian migrants had converted to Christianity, which according to Iran’s Shariah law, is a crime punishable by death. They had illegally entered the United States in the last month, and were detained in San Diego before being deported to Panama.
We learned, too, that many of the migrants had arrived at the U.S. border from such countries as Afghanistan and China, hoping to seek asylum. Now they are trapped in Panama, where the Trump administration sent them because those nations will not accept them, or for other reasons.
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