Number of Migrants Crossing Panama Jungle Falls Ahead of Trump

Marcelo Rochabrun
·1-min read

(Bloomberg) -- The number of migrants crossing the dangerous Panamanian jungle on their way to the US hit an almost three-year low ahead of the inauguration of US President-Elect Donald Trump.

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Just 4,849 migrants crossed the Darien Gap, a stretch of rain forest on the border between Colombia and Panama, in December, according to figures released by the Central American nation. That’s an 80% drop from the same month a year earlier and less than half the crossings in November.

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The sudden drop may highlight the dissuading power that a Trump presidency is already having on potential migrants, according to a post by Adam Isacson of the Washington Office for Latin America, a nonprofit.

It also highlights measures already taken by US President Joe Biden to limit asylum claims. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino has also taken steps to shut down most of the routes taken by migrants to cross from Colombia to Panama through the Darien Gap. Trump has recently taken aim at Mulino, saying the US might use its military power to take over the Panama Canal, a key route for global trade.

The Darien Gap has become a key route for migrants trying to reach the US border. More than half a million people crossed it in 2023 according to the Panamanian government, a figure that dropped to 300,000 in 2024.

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