US and Panama agree to close crossings and repatriate migrants – DW – 07/02/2024

The governments of Panama and the United States signed this Monday (07/01/2024) a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in which the US administration “commits to cover the expenses of the repatriation” of migrants through the Darién, the natural border with Colombia. According to authorities, hundreds of people use it daily to get to North America.

“In the agreement signed today by the Panamanian Foreign Minister, Javier Martínez-Acha, and the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, the US government pledges to cover the expenses of the repatriation of immigrants who entered illegally through the Darien”, the office of the new president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, who took office this Monday, announced in a statement.

This MoU on “assistance and cooperation” in immigration matters would “make it possible to close the passage of illegal immigrants through Darién, an issue that has become a serious humanitarian crisis.”

According to the note, the text of the agreement indicates that it “seeks to support Panama with the equipment, transport and logistics of foreigners found within the migratory flow in violation of Panamanian immigration laws”, who “will be subject to administrative immigration measures in conformity with Panamanian law”.

end human trafficking

Panama, for its part, commits in the MOU “to comply with all international agreements and conventions on the rights of migrants and people with refugee status.”

“The President of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, is committed to resolving the Darien crisis and ending the illicit trade of human trafficking,” the statement concluded.

Shortly before the declaration was made public, Mulino had already stated during his inaugural address that “Panama will no longer be a transit country for illegals.”

“I will not allow local complicity. I call on my security forces to enforce the law accordingly, with strict respect for human rights and in compliance with the defense of our country’s interests,” the Panamanian president said.

“I will not allow Panama to be a route for thousands of people who enter our country illegally, supported by an entire international organization dealing with drug trafficking and human trafficking. That money, the product of profiting from human misfortune, is cursed money,” Mulino said.

High economic cost to Panama

He said that Panama “cannot continue financing the economic cost – which in the past amounted to $100 million annually – and the social cost that massive illegal immigration generates in the country, resulting in connections to transnational criminal organizations that generate insecurity internationally” and forcing Panamanian security agents to “neglect our territorial and maritime security in other parts of the country.”

For its part, US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrianne Watson said in a statement that President Joe Biden’s government “will support Panama’s efforts to begin the prompt, safe and humane repatriation of migrants who do not have a legal basis to remain in Panama.”

“With these repatriations to the country of origin, we will help stop irregular migration in the region and at the border between the United States and Mexico” and “prevent the proliferation” of human trafficking networks, he said.

According to official figures, more than 195,000 migrants have crossed the jungle so far this year, mostly Venezuelans, while in 2023 there were more than 520,000, an unprecedented number.

Jesse (AFP, EFE, Panama America, La Estrella de Panama)