PANAMA CITY: The number of migrants heading to the US from the Darien jungle will drop by 41 percent in 2024, with some 302,000 attempting the perilous journey from Colombia, Panama’s president said Thursday.
Following a deal reached with Washington in July, Panama has closed several crossings in the Darien region and deported more than 1,500 migrants on US-funded flights to Colombia, Ecuador and India. .
“We have achieved a 41 percent reduction in the flow of migrants to the Darien forest,” President José Raul Malino said in a speech to Congress.
“We work every day to make sure illegal immigration doesn’t reach (Panama City) or the rest of the country,” he added.
The remarks came three weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump took office, promising to deport undocumented immigrants en masse.
Despite dangers including fast-flowing rivers, wild animals and criminal gangs, the Darien is an important transit point for Venezuelans and other migrants who travel from South America through Central America and Mexico hoping to reach the United States.
According to Panamanian immigration authorities, 302,203 people crossed the Darien in 2024, compared to 520,085 in 2023.