According to official Panamanian government statistics, the number of persons entering the country via the dangerous Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia skyrocketed in April and early May, giving a blow to U.S. attempts to curtail unlawful migration to the north.
More than six times as many migrants entered Panama in April as at the same time last year, according to numbers from Panama’s Security Ministry
Authorities’ concerns about an increase in migrant flow to the United States as a result of the repeal of COVID-19 regulations known as Title 42 have been bolstered by the continuing rise in numbers, with 16,246 crossings during the first nine days of May, already exceeding the amount for that month in 2022.
On April 11, the United States, Panama, and Colombia launched a joint two-month effort to curb illegal migration across the uncontrolled jungle.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, President Joe Biden predicted that the border would be “chaotic for a while” once Title 42 was officially withdrawn at midnight on May 11. More than an hour was spent discussing border security with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Shared commitment to tackling migration
Lopez Obrador tweeted that they had addressed their shared commitment to tackling migration, drug trafficking, and armed robberies together.
Since its implementation in 2020, Title 42 has allowed U.S. officials to swiftly return migrants to Mexico without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum in the United States.
Official data shows that in the first four months of 2023, the number of illegal crossings from Colombia to Panama via the Darien Gap reached 127,687, far more than the 19,925 registered during the same time in 2022.
Panama’s foreign minister, Janaina Tewaney, was among a team that met with U.S. homeland security chief Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday in Washington to address the so-called “migration crisis,” according to a statement from Panama.
Plans to limit passage via the Darien Gap have been cited as a central tenet of the United States’ strategy to address migration.
