She was expelled from the United States, but still thought America would help. She was wrong

 


She asked to be identified only as “Ambo,” out of fear of being recognized back in her home country.

“Life is very difficult for me,” she told CNN from a school-turned-shelter on a humidly hot day in Panama City, Panama.

Over the ambient noise of blade fans attempting to cool the large room, she explained she left her native country of Cameroon due to “political issues,” fearing that she would either be “sentenced dead” or spend the rest of her life in prison if she stayed.

She remembers arriving at the US-Mexico border on January 23 – three days after US President Trump’s inauguration – after trekking through Central America and the dangerous Darién jungle.

She turned herself in to United States Customs and Border Protection in hopes of making her case for asylum. By her count she spent 19 days in US custody, then finally got that chance – or so she thought.

Just after midnight on February 13, by her recollection, she and other migrants were loaded onto a bus where they drove for hours.

“We were so happy thinking that they were going to transfer us to a camp where we are going to meet an immigration officer,” she recalled.

She still thought that when she was loaded onto a plane, believing they were headed to another facility in the United States. But when they landed, they were in Panama.

“We’re asking them why are they bringing us to Panama? ‘Why are we in Panama?’” she said, “People started crying.””

Even still, she was optimistic.

“We’re like thinking maybe the camp in the US is full. That is why they are bringing us here. When it will be our turn, they will come and take us to give us a listening ear,” she said.

But the Panamanian government took them to a hotel in Panama City, guarded tightly by security, no phones, and limited access to the outside world, according to multiple migrants CNN spoke to. Panama’s Security Minister Frank Ábrego previously told a local radio program the deportees were held at the hotel, in part, because officials needed to “effectively verify who these people are who are arriving in our country.”

Even in a new country, under a new government authority, she held out hope someone from the United States government would step in and fix the situation.

“We were somehow happy that maybe the immigration from the US would come to Panama to listen to our stories,” she told CNN, now fighting back tears.

“It wasn’t the case.” Her voice cracked, recalling the moment her optimism shattered.





CNN. (2025, marzo 30). U.S.-Panama immigration: Migrants and asylum seekers. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/30/world/us-panama-immigration-migrants-asylum/index.html

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