U.S.-Bound Migrants Surge at Darien Jungle Crossing in Panama [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

People fleeing Haiti, Ecuador and even China make the perilous journey, portending spike at U.S. border in coming months



A group of migrants, mainly Venezuelans, crossing the Darien Gap from Colombia into Panama.
PHOTO: FERNANDO VERGARA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Ryan Dube and Shen Lu
March 16, 2023 11:00 am ET

The number of migrants crossing into Panama after trudging through the treacherous Darien Gap jungle reached record levels in the first two months of the year, data from Panama showed, posing a fresh challenge to their destination country, the U.S.

In January and February, 49,291 people from as near as Haiti and as far away as China have crossed the Darien, a span of rainforest separating Panama from Colombia. That is more than a fivefold increase from the 8,964 migrants in the same period last year, according to Panama’s immigration office.

. . .

Panama’s growing number of migrants, who tell officials they are mostly bound for the U.S., now points to a likely increase of people arriving at the U.S.’s southern border in the coming months as they flee economic hardship, crime and political unrest at home.

About 2,200 Chinese migrants were among those crossing the Darien Gap in the first two months of 2023, a sharp increase in a group that has usually made up a much smaller proportion of migrants through the area. During the same period last year, 71 Chinese migrants were recorded passing through Panama.



Haitian migrants waded through a river in the Darien Gap in October last year.
PHOTO: FERNANDO VERGARA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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