The United States is going to pay for flights to remove migrants and provide other assistance to Panama under an agreement signed on Monday, as the Central American country’s new president vowed to close the dangerous Darien Gap used by people traveling north to the United States.
The MoU was signed during an official visit headed by. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas The country’s new President Jose Raul Mulino will be sworn in on Monday in Panama.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement that the agreement “is designed to reduce the number of migrants typically cruelly smuggled through Darien on their way to the United States.”
He said efforts to return some migrants to their hometowns would “help curb irregular migration in the region and across our southern border, and prevent the flourishing of malicious smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants.”
“Irregular migration is a regional challenge that requires a regional response,” Mayorkas said in a statement.
New Panama President Jose Raul Mulino shakes hands before delivering a speech at his swearing-in ceremony at the Atlapa Convention Center in Panama City on Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mattias Delacroix)
Shortly after Mulino’s swearing-in, the Panamanian government issued a statement saying that Mayorkas had signed an agreement with Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha under which the U.S. government committed to cover the costs of repatriation of migrants who entered Panama illegally through the Darien.
According to Panama, the agreement states that the US will assist Panama with equipment, transportation and logistics to send migrants who enter Panama illegally back to their countries.
Mulino, the country’s 65-year-old former security minister and new president, has promised to stop migration through the jungle-lined and largely lawless border.
“I will not allow Panama to be an open gateway for thousands of people who enter our country illegally, and who have the support of an international organization linked to drug and human trafficking,” Mulino said during his inaugural address.
Under the terms of the agreement, US homeland security teams will remain deployed on the ground In Panama According to two senior administration officials, the agreement will help the Panamanian government train its personnel and develop its expertise and capacity to determine which migrants may be deported under Panama’s immigration laws.
He spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to provide details of the agreement, which has not yet been made public.
The US will also pay for charter flights or commercial plane tickets for migrants to be deported so they can return to their home countries. Officials did not specify how much money the US would pay for those flights or what countries the migrants would be sent to.
Officials said the US would give Panamanian authorities assistance and expertise on how to conduct expulsions, including helping them screen migrants who may be eligible for protection. But officials said the US was not deciding who to deport.
US officials said the program would be entirely under Panama’s control, consistent with the country’s immigration laws, and decisions would be made by the same government. Panama already has a repatriation program, but it is limited, they said.
The agreement comes at a time when Panama’s Darien Gap has become a kind of superhighway for migrants from the Southern Hemisphere and beyond trying to reach the United States. The Darien Gap connects Panama and Colombia to the south.
More than half a million people crossed the corridor last year, and more than 190,000 will have crossed so far in 2024, with the majority of migrants coming from Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia and China.
This agreement has been reached at a time when Biden administration Biden is struggling to show voters he has a handle on immigration and border security in an election year. Former President Donald Trump, who has made immigration a major election year issue, has harshly criticized Biden, saying he is responsible for problems at the border.
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In early June, President Joe Biden announced a new measure to restrict access to asylum when the number of people arriving at the southern border reaches a certain number. Homeland Security officials have credited those restrictions with reducing the number of people encountered by the Border Patrol by 40%.
The administration has also taken steps to allow spouses of some US citizens with legal status to apply for permanent residence, and eventually citizenship, without leaving the country. This action by Democrat Biden could affect more than 500,000 immigrants.
