Migration: Panama vows to close Darién Gap amid regional crisis

Shortly after, Panama and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in which the latter committed to covering the cost of repatriating migrants who enter Panama illegally through the perilous corridor. The deal will ‘reduce the number of migrants being cruelly smuggled through the Darién’, said a statement from the US National Security Council.

A record 520,000 people traversed the Darién in 2023. More than 190,000 have crossed so far in 2024. Previously frequented by Haitians and, for a period, Cubans, ongoing political and economic upheaval in Venezuela and spiralling violence and insecurity in Ecuador have fuelled record numbers of migrants entering the crossing from both countries. Others, from as far afield as Afghanistan, China and West Africa, have also attempted to cross the route in search of safety and opportunities.

Caitlyn Yates, an academic at the University of British Columbia, has spent months conducting research on the Panamanian side of the Darién. She believes closing the crossing is wholly unrealistic. ‘No one that you’re going to talk to in Panama that has any kind of experience in the Darién thinks it’s going to be closed – that’s quite obvious’, she says. ‘When people have attempted to close the borders, including the US southern border, it just diverts individuals through other routes and even more so in a place like the Darién Gap where there’s absolutely no access to infrastructure.’

Global Insight was unable to reach the Panamanian government for comment.

Soledad Álvarez Velasco, an assistant professor in LALS (Latin American & Latino Studies) and Anthropology at the University of Illinois Chicago, agrees it would be ‘impossible’ to close the roadless stretch of rainforest and says it remains a necessary migration route as social and economic conditions continue to deteriorate across Latin America. ‘This won’t stop because the conditionalities in our countries are not improving whatsoever’, she says. 

Panama’s lack of immigration detention centres, combined with the practical challenges of implementing the proposed repatriation policy, even with US financial support, have also raised eyebrows. ‘In the entire country, they have capacity for about 30 people,’ says Yates. ‘You’d have to first build detention facilities and ramp up access to asylum processing, which is pretty much non-existent in Panama, to comply with international legal obligations.’

Mulino’s agreement also refocuses attention on the role of the US in resolving the crisis. Some recent initiatives have garnered praise, including the Biden administration’s move in spring 2023 to introduce Safe Mobility Offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala to deter illegal migration and expand lawful pathways for migrants. 

Under pressure to slow irregular migration across the US-Mexico border ahead of the US election, in June President Biden signed a controversial executive order that allowed the US government to remove migrants entering the US illegally without processing their asylum requests when the border became ‘overwhelmed.’

A statement from the US Department of Homeland Security says it ‘continues to enforce US immigration laws and deliver tough consequences for those who do not have a lawful basis to remain in the United States, consistent with international obligations.’

This executive order and so many other measures are only binding within the administration in which they have been issued, prompting concern as the US election looms that any progress could quickly unravel if Biden loses. 

Carl Meacham, President and Chief Executive Officer of think tank Global Americans, says the short-term views of both successive US and Latin American administrations have contributed to an inconsistent framework of dealing with irregular immigration into the US. ‘In the case of Mulino, measures that the Biden administration has taken and measures that the Trump administration professes or wants to take, they’re all very short term, and they’re all focused on political need instead of focusing on a more mid-term or long-term situation,’ says Meacham. ‘If you leave this up to a political process, that’s what you’re going to be vulnerable to.’

A Trump victory in the US election could be particularly troubling for the rights of children attempting the crossing, says Álvarez Velasco. ‘We [could] be witnessing scenarios and situations that we haven’t even imagined yet, like caged children.’ she says. ‘Remember that this was part of the Trump administration’s brutalities and might come back.’

UNICEF, which works to protect the rights of children, says more than 30,000 children crossed the Darién Gap in the first four months of 2024 – a 40 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2023. 

Whichever administration next occupies the White House, Meacham says it’ll need to be alive to the changing political climate across Latin America. ‘The orientation of leaders in the region is no longer boxable,’ he says. ‘The definitions that the US [once] used to deal with the region are changing, so the US also has to change.’

As Mulino assumes his presidency, Álvarez Velasco points to Panama’s recent election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2025–26. ‘Panama has been a historical ally and even a colony of the US and now it will definitely play a key role in terms of a new wave of externalisation of the US borders,’ she says. 

Luz Nagle, Co-Vice Chair of the IBA Human Rights Law Committee and emeritus professor at Stetson University College of Law, Florida, hopes Panama’s seat on the Council will help push for a regional approach to the crisis. ‘The Colombian authorities seem to be unwilling to confront the organised crime group known as the Gulf Clan, which has a significant role in moving migrants through the Darién and is one of the primary facilitators and exploiters of the current migrant crisis in the Americas,’ she says. ‘If Colombia fails to act at the front end of the migrant corridor into Panama, then the Panamanian role at the UN Security Council will have minimal impact.’