[Source: BBC NEWS]

In a room at the luxury Decápolis Hotel in Panama City, two girls hold a piece of paper to the window with a written message. “Please help us,” it reads.

The hotel offers its clients rooms with sea views, has two exclusive restaurants, a swimming pool, a spa and private transportation. But it has now become a “temporary custody” centre housing 299 undocumented migrants deported from the US, the Panamanian government said on Tuesday.

Some migrants raise their arms and cross them at the wrists to indicate that they are deprived of their freedom. Others hang small signs with other messages such as: “We are not safe in our country.”

[Source: BBC News – Migrants in the Decápolis Hotel try to catch the attention of those outside]

The Trump administration has pledged to deport millions of people who crossed illegally into the US. Those in the Panama City hotel arrived on three flights last week, after President José Raúl Mulino agreed that Panama would become a “bridge” country for deportees.

However, of the 299 undocumented migrants – from India, China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka – only 171 have agreed to return to their countries of origin.

[Source: Reuters – Members of the National Aeronaval Service of Panama guard the hotel where the US deportees are staying]

The remainder now face an uncertain future, and it is the Panamanian authorities who are in control of what happens next.

According to the government, this group will be transferred to a camp in the province of Darién, which has temporarily housed migrants crossing the jungle en route to the US.

On a normal day, tourists can enter and leave the Decápolis Hotel with ease, but now heavily armed members of the Panamanian National Aeronaval Service enforce strict security measures inside and outside of the building.