Expulsing The Right to Asylum, Daily Brief April 24, 2025.

On Inauguration Day, US President Trump declared there was an “invasion” at the US-Mexico border. He also claimed that people who crossed the border without permission could not ask for asylum.

But according to US law, anyone—no matter how they came into the country—has the right to ask for asylum if they are at the border or inside the United States.

Words were followed by actions.

Less than a month later, the United States carried out mass expulsions of 299 third-country nationals to Panama. The people expelled to Panama had all crossed the US border from Mexico since the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Third-country nationals, in this case, are people who are neither from the US nor from Panama.

A new report finds, that the US denied these people due process and the right to seek asylum, combined with harsh detention conditions and mistreatment.

Panama on the other hand, held them in incommunicado detention, where authorities kept their phones, blocked visitors, and isolated them from the outside world.

HRW interviewed 48 of the 299 in-person. Many of them had fled persecution due to ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, family ties, and political views.

A 27-year-old woman from Iran had fled her country after converting to Christianity fearing arrest and persecution by authorities, as converts face serious human rights violations and can even be sentenced to death.

She told HRW that she repeatedly asked for asylum once in the US “I didn’t understand why they didn’t listen to me. Then an immigration officer told me President Trump had ended asylum, so they were going to deport us.”

Between February 12 and 15, she and others were put in shackles and on US military planes. They had no idea where they were being flown. People realized they were in Panama only after landing.

In early March they were released. Panamanian authorities issued 30-day humanitarian permits—extendable up to 90 days—urging recipients to leave the country. In April, the permits were extended for another 60 days.

Of the 299 expelled, 180 were later returned to their home countries.

The US should stop sending noncitizens to other countries and follow the principle of nonrefoulement, which means not sending people back to places where they could be harmed. This is a violation of international law.

Panama should not accept third-country nationals from the US in the future.

Now, it is the country’s responsibility to protect these people. And that starts with giving them a full and fair hearing on their claims for refugee status.

The right to asylum is a universal human right.