Panamania’s incoming president has vowed to make major changes to help ease the U.S. border crisis.
President-elect José Raul Mulino has vowed to close a critical immigration gap in Panama that more than 500,000 migrants used last year, marking a shift in policy as the United States continues to grapple with a crisis at its southern border. According to Voice of America.
“Panama and our Darien [Gap] Not a transit route. “This is our border,” Mulino reportedly said.
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Panamanian President-elect José Raul Mulino declared victory in the presidential election and celebrated with supporters in Panama City on May 5, 2024, according to preliminary results from electoral authorities. (Daniel Gonzalez/Anadolu, Getty Images)
Panama has previously helped busloads of migrants cross this critical gap and allowed them to continue traveling north, a policy that has enabled thousands to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.
The shift comes as the United States continues to pressure Mexico to help ease the crisis, calling on the country to help enforce movement restrictions through its territory to prevent migrants from ending up at the U.S. border.
Although a dangerous route north to the United States, the Darien Gap has become a popular route among immigrants in recent years, with the involvement of cartels and other organized crime groups making it affordable for those seeking to reach the United States. choose.
On September 26, 2021, Haitian migrants crossed the Darien Gap near Arcandi, Colombia, heading toward Panama in an attempt to reach the United States. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
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Mulino, who won last week with 34 percent of the vote, said the new policy would make Panama less attractive to immigrants and criminal organizations.
“Because when we start deporting people here through an immediate deportation program, there will be less interest in smuggling people across Panama,” Mulino said of the plan, according to Voice of America. “I guarantee you, They would say going through Panama is unattractive because they are expelling you.”
However, some experts are skeptical that such a plan will be effective in reducing immigration. Adam Isaacson, an analyst with the NGO Latin America Office in Washington, said Panama does not have the capacity to “massively deport” thousands of migrants.
Migrants, mostly from Ecuador, Haiti and Nigeria, walk in the Darien Gorge in Colombia on November 20, 2022. (Jan Soholl/Getty Images)
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“A daily flight is extremely expensive and only repatriates about 10% of passenger traffic (about 1,000 to 1,200 flights per day). The United States can only fly about 130 flights per month around the world,” Isaacson said.
