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During the Second World War, the United States implemented policies of surveillance, internment, and deportation against citizens of the Axis powers across the Americas, measures justified under the doctrine of hemispheric security. In Panama, these actions were incorporated into the broader strategy to protect the Panama Canal, considered essential to U.S. military interests. As a result, German, Italian, and Japanese nationals were monitored, detained, and deported, even when they had strong social, familial, and economic ties to the country. The case of Egon Nowak, a German resident in Chiriquí since the 1920s, illustrates the application of these policies. His arrest, internment in Balboa, and subsequent deportation to the United States shed light on the legal and administrative mechanisms used to manage the so-called “enemy aliens.” This study, based on a qualitative approach and a historical-interpretive analysis of archival sources and testimonies, identifies patterns of state action and their socioeconomic repercussions, situating them within the U.S.-driven hemispheric security policies.
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