Panamanian authorities on Tuesday began conducting U.S.-funded deportation flights for migrants apprehended at the Darien Gap, the treacherous jungle path used by hundreds of thousands of migrants on their way up north.
A group of 29 Colombians with criminal records were the first to be returned, BBC reported. The U.S. has committed to "remove foreign nationals who do not have a legal basis to remain in Panama."
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said the flights will be headed to Colombia, the country where they start their journeys through the Darien Gap. It is unclear whether there will be other flights from Colombia to the countries of origin of other apprehended migrants.
Washington has pledged $6 million in funding for migrant repatriations from the Central American nation in the hope of reducing irregular crossings at its own southern border. The agreement also includes U.S. support for Panama with equipment, transportation, and logistics for foreigners detected within migratory flows that violate Panamanian immigration laws. Mulino detailed earlier this month that the flights will take migrants back to Colombia.
Mulino recently told Univision Noticias has he "feels it in his heart," acknowledging that many of those crossing are Venezuelans fleeing the country's political and social crisis.
"Most come from Venezuela. It's a sad situation because they are human beings, to begin with. Families are being torn apart, there are five or six-year old children whose parents died during the journey and now are in Panamanian shelters. We don't know who they are or their names," he added.
Mulino has heavily focused on cracking down on migration through the Darien since taking office on July 1. Last year, over half a million people crossed the gap, more than half of them Venezuelans.
The country's National Border Service reported in late July that 11,363 migrants crossed the border since the first day of the month, about 9,000 fewer than the same period last year. Overall, more than 216,000 people have crossed so far. And figures are expected to continue dropping with the flights, not only due to the people effectively deported but also as a result of a deterring effect.
The Mulino administration has implemented a series of measures, including setting up barbed wire in different paths through the path. Jorge Gobea, the director general of the National Border Service, said the measure consists on 3 miles of barbed wire on five trails to channel migrants into a "humanitarian corridor."
"We closed more than five clandestine routes which were used by organized crime to mobilize migrants from Colombia to Panama. The intention was to channel this flow, not to interrupt it, but to send them through one sole route, he said.
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