Migration trends are changing in the Darien Gap and Central America more broadly. As the U.S. government has further limited access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and is engaging in a crackdown on unauthorized immigration, some U.S.-bound migrants have reversed course in recent weeks and are heading south across the perilous jungle that connects Panama and Colombia. “There is an inverse migration that continues to grow more and more from Mexico to our border,” Panama’s Security Minister Frank Ábrego said recently. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says 65 percent of migrants encountered along irregular routes in Guatemala are heading south. Costa Rican authorities have claimed that 50 to 75 migrants are passing through their country each day as part of this reverse flow. And human smugglers, seeing their business sharply reduced, are now offering their services to facilitate returns. This return movement comes as northbound passage through the Darien has all but ground to a halt. More than 520,000 people crossed in 2023, with nearly 82,000 in the month of August alone, as the sparsely inhabited region was suddenly transformed into a migration crossroads. This February, just 400 people made the crossing. Some migrants are heading south just months after passing through in the other direction. Many have said they changed course after the Trump administration ended use of the CBP One app, which had previously allowed individuals to schedule appointments at official border crossings. That function was terminated on President Donald Trump’s first day in office, and the app has since been remade into one encouraging migrants without legal status to notify the government of their intent to “self deport.” For transit countries including Costa Rica and Panama, the southbound trend represents a new wrinkle. The two countries have begun cooperating on facilitating southbound migration, organizing transportation from Costa Rica’s southern border into Panama. The journey remains deadly in either direction. Last month, an 8-year-old died when a boat carrying 19 migrants capsized off the coast of Panama. The rapid transformation of the Darien Gap over the last five years—from remote jungle to a busy, if treacherous, thoroughfare and now to a quiet path going in both directions—has offered a vivid demonstration of how migration trends and routes can change virtually overnight. All the best, Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
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