Panama City, Panama (September 9, 2024) – A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies assesses the progress made by new Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino toward fulfilling his promise to close the dangerous migration route through the Darien Gap and the implications for U.S. border security and immigration control. This roadless 70-mile conduit for migrants heading to the U.S. southern border has seen record-breaking numbers, with 1.5 million foreign nationals from 170 countries passing through from 2021 to mid-2024.

The report, authored by Todd Bensman, Senior National Security Fellow at the Center, is based on extensive fieldwork and interviews on both sides of the Darien Gap. Bensman spoke with a wide range of stakeholders, including migrants, local residents, United Nations officials, smugglers, and Panamanian leaders, such as Director General Jorge Gobea of Panama’s National Border Service. The transcript of the interview of Gobea is here.

President Mulino took office in July 2024 and ordered preliminary steps to reduce migration through the Darien Gap, marking a significant policy shift. However, despite an initial decrease, migration surged again by late August due to various challenges, including inadequate U.S. support.

Challenges to Panama’s Efforts:

1.  Financial Aid: A lack of U.S. financial support, which was seemingly promised, for repatriation flights
2. Diplomatic Engagement: Limited U.S. diplomatic pressure on sending countries like Colombia and Ecuador to accept deportees.
3. Deterrence Strategy Hindered: Post-signing agreement limitations hinder Panama’s ability to close the route.

Why the Darien Gap Matters:

• The highest percentages using the gap are Venezuelans and Haitians, who cannot be vetted for criminality.
• Migrants from 170-plus countries now account for 45 percent of those reaching the U.S. border, posing significant public safety and national security concerns.
• A great many hail from Muslim-majority nations of national security interest where Islamic terrorist groups operate and adversarial countries known to field U.S.-targeting espionage operations, such as China, Iran, and Russia. 
• Panama's screening for terrorism has dropped dramatically, from 90 percent of migrants encountered before 2021 to less than 3 percent in 2024, contributing to the detection at the U.S. border of a record 378 on the FBI terrorism watch list from FY 2021 through July 2024.
• Post-signing U.S.-Panama agreement limitations undermined deterrence efforts by requiring that migrants targeted for repatriation first undergo humanitarian “protection screening” to determine if individuals can be rechanneled into so-called “lawful pathways” to the U.S.
• Working together openly, both legitimate and illegitimate entities operate a migrant-moving machine that is well-oiled and institutionalized.
• An armed paramilitary organization called the “Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia”, or the “Gulf Clan” (Clan del Golfo), controls a wide swath of northwestern Colombian approaches to the Darien Gap and profits from the traffic.