WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Center for Immigration Studies will host a panel discussion on
December 7, 2021 exploring the remote area of the Darien Gap, the infamous jungle passage through which extra-continental migrants cross from South America to North America on their way to the United States southern border. International migrants are passing through the gap’s dense rainforest in record numbers. How is it impacting the indigenous people of Panama who have populated this area for thousands of years?
Panelists bring personal stories and information from the Darien Gap area. The Honorable Francisco Agapi, Mayor of Cémaco, Panama and a member of the Embera tribe, will be flying in from Panama for his first visit to Washington, D.C. He has firsthand experience with the physical and cultural impact of mass migration on the indigenous tribes in the area he serves. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), a member of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, spent several days earlier this year in the Darien Gap on a fact finding trip. Michael Yon, an award winning war correspondent, has spent months in the area recording stories and documenting through writing and photographs the impact of migration.
Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 10 a.m. EST
Location: Army Navy Club, 901 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
Stream: Scheduled streams will be live on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter
Participants:
The Honorable Francisco Agapi serves as the Mayor of Cémaco, Panama, which is located in the Darien province, home to the Darien Gap - a region dominated by rainforest, rivers and swamps. This area encompasses the reservations of seven indigenous tribes, including the largest tribe, the Embera, of which Agapi is a member. The Darien Gap is presently part of the route for smugglers and migrants traveling to the United States southern border.
Representative Tom Tiffany represents the 7th Congressional District of Wisconsin and serves on the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship and the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security. Earlier this year Representative Tiffany made a four-day fact finding trip to the Darien Gap jungle passage after the International Organization for Migration reported that 11,370 “extra-continental” migrants from around the world had arrived in Panama in the first three months of the year.
Michael Yon is an award winning war correspondent. Since January, Michael has studied migration on the ground in Morocco, Greece, Lithuania, Colombia, Panama, Mexico, and the United States. In 2021, he spent months in the infamous Darien Gap, documenting the rising tide of migrants on the indigenous people and their land and speaking with the indigenous people and their leaders, Panamanian police, migrants, and non-government organization workers who provide assistance to the migrants arriving from around the world.
Todd Bensman (Moderator), the Center’s Texas-based Senior Research Fellow, traveled extensively through Panama three years ago investigating how special interest aliens move through Panama. Bensman is a former counterterrorism intelligence practitioner, journalist, and author of "
America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration".
