Herischi’s clients comprise just a fraction of the more than 300 migrants from China, Afghanistan, India, Iran and other countries captured at and deported from the U.S.-Mexico border to “bridge countries” across Central and South America in recent weeks. The Feb. 12 deportations to Panama garnered national attention after reports that migrants were placed on a military plane, carted to the country without their knowledge in handcuffs and shackles, and transferred to and detained in a Panama City hotel by armed guards for days, fled the airwaves. Images of the migrants pleading for help through the windows of the 4-star Decapolis topped articles detailing their plight: injuries from attempts to escape, having nearly all their cellphones seized, being cut off from legal counsel and faced with the impossible choice of remaining in detention or returning home to severe persecution.