Panama’s new president has vowed to close the dangerous Darien Canyon, used by people heading to the United States from the north, and the United States will pay airfares and provide other assistance to Panama to remove migrants under a deal signed on Monday.
The memorandum was signed during an official visit to Panama led by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to attend the inauguration of new President José Raul Mulino on Monday.
The Darien Jungle, a dangerous route for migrants, is becoming more accessible as more migrants enter Panama.
National Security Council spokesman Adrian Watson said in a statement that the agreement “aims to jointly reduce the number of migrants brutally smuggled through the Darien River, typically on their way to the United States.”
Efforts to send some migrants back to their home countries “will help deter illegal migration in the region and on our southern border and halt the expansion of vicious smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants,” she said.
“Illegal immigration is a regional challenge that requires a regional response,” Mayorkas said in a statement.
Panama’s new President Jose Raul Mulino waves before speaking during his inauguration ceremony at the Atlapa Convention Center in Panama City, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mathias Delacroix)
Shortly after Mulino was inaugurated, the Panamanian government released a statement saying Mayorkas had signed an agreement with Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez Acha under which the U.S. government would cover the costs of repatriating migrants who entered Panama illegally through Darien.
Panama said the agreement would see the United States assist Panama with equipment, transportation and logistics to repatriate migrants who have entered the country illegally to their home countries.
The country’s new president, 65-year-old Mulino, a former security minister, has promised to stop migrants from crossing the border, which is covered in jungle and largely lawless.
“I will not allow Panama to become a transit point for thousands of people who illegally enter our country, with the support of international organizations involved in drug and human trafficking,” Mulino said in his inaugural address.
Under the agreement, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security team based in Panama will help the Panamanian government train its officials and build its own expertise and capacity to determine which migrants can be deported under Panama’s immigration laws, according to two senior administration officials.
They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the agreement that have not yet been made public.
For those who are deported, the US will also pay for charter or commercial flights to take them back to their home countries. Officials did not say how much the US would pay for those flights in total, or to which countries the migrants would be deported.
Officials said the U.S. would provide assistance and expertise on how to carry out deportations, including helping Panamanian authorities vet migrants who may be eligible for protection, but the U.S. does not decide who to deport, the officials said.
The program would be entirely under the control of the Panamanian government under Panamanian immigration law and decisions would be made by that government, the U.S. official said, adding that Panama already has a repatriation program but it is limited.
The agreement comes as Panama’s Darien Gap, which connects Panama to Colombia to the south, has become a kind of highway for migrants from across the Global South and beyond trying to reach the United States.
More than half a million people passed through the corridor last year and more than 190,000 are due to cross through 2024, with most of the migrants coming from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and China.
The deal comes as the Biden administration struggles to show voters in an election year that it is managing immigration and border security well. Former President Donald Trump, who made immigration a key election issue, has harshly criticized Biden, blaming him for the border problems.
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President Joe Biden announced new measures in early June to block asylum requests if a certain number of people arrive at the southern border, and Department of Homeland Security officials credited those restrictions with reducing the number of people encountered by Border Patrol agents by 40% since they were put into place.
The administration also allowed certain spouses of U.S. citizens without legal status to apply for permanent residency and ultimately citizenship without having to leave the country, a move Biden, a Democrat, said could affect more than 500,000 immigrants.
