Reference image. The first flight that left Panama from the deportation plan for illegal aliens.
Photo: EFE – Welcome Velasco
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An agreement between Panama and the United States to repatriate irregular migrants who cross the Darién Gap, in force since last July, has reduced the transit through that jungle by 92% of Ecuadorian citizens and by 65% that of Colombians, said this Tuesday. American embassy in the Central American country.
The agreement, signed on July 1, contemplates the repatriation by air and based on Panamanian laws of irregular migrants who have arrived in Panama after crossing the border jungle with Colombia, with the United States financing the flights.
“Since the flights began, we have seen a decrease in the crossing of Ecuadorian and Colombian migrants of 92% and 65%, respectively, compared to the months of August and September of last year,” said the United States Embassy in Panama in a statement.
Colombians and Ecuadorians are among the main nationalities of irregular migrants who cross the jungle bound for North America. For several years now, the vast majority have been Venezuelans, although the deportation plan cannot be applied to them given the suspension, since the end of July, of diplomatic relations between Panama and Venezuela.
As of October 13, 274,444 irregular travelers have arrived in Panama through the jungle, 36.5% less than the 432,211 registered in the same period of 2023, according to Panamanian statistics.
Almost 800 deported on 19 flights
Some 787 migrants have been deported on 19 flights financed for more than US$1.1 million by the US in air operations carried out by Panama “to deport or expel irregular migrants who do not have the legal bases to remain in the country,” said this. Tuesday a statement from the American diplomatic legation.
The US financing “covers the transportation of deportees, escorts, translators, among other related expenses,” according to official information.
“The first flight under this program was carried out on August 20, 2024 and the most recent was carried out on October 19. In the first three months of the pilot plan, people have been deported or expelled on charter flights to Colombia, Ecuador and India. In addition, four irregular migrants were returned on commercial flights to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia and Türkiye,” he added.
The deported or expelled irregular migrants, some of them with notable criminal records, were processed according to Panama’s immigration law, following international agreements for the protection of migrants, the diplomatic legation said.
The United States ambassador to Panama, Mari Carmen Aponte, said that “Panama is a close ally of the United States and proof of this is that it was the first country to have an understanding of this type with us.”
The objective, according to the US diplomatic mission, “is to highlight that irregular migrants can be returned to their countries, even if they manage to cross the dangerous Darien jungle.”
Likewise, the diplomatic source stressed that irregular migration “only benefits organized crime, which profits from people’s needs, without caring if the migrants die along the way.”
Panama and the United States signed this agreement on July 1 to return migrants who cross the Darien, which is experiencing a crisis due to the migratory flow, and for which the State Department allocated US$6 million to the Department of Homeland Security. of the North American country to finance it.
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