Panama Deploys Patrols Along the Darien Coast to Combat Irregular Migration

Measures against irregular migration in Panama continue.  Now, the Minister of Security, Frank Ábrego, ordered the deployment of the National Aeronaval Service (Senan) and the National Border System (Senafront) on the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, following the instruction of the President of the Republic, José Raúl Mulino, to close at least five crossings on the border with Colombia. 

The instruction establishes the detention and delivery to the Colombian police or immigration authorities of any person who travels by boat with irregular migrants and tries to enter the jurisdictional areas of Panama.  Ábrego reported that the sites closed in the Darién are those through which irregular migrants entered Panama, led by “coyotes” (human traffickers) from Colombia. 

The purpose of closing these border crossings is to reduce the number of migrants who transit irregularly through the Darien jungle.  So far in 2024, a total of 195,817 migrants have passed through the Darien jungle on their way to North America, according to records from the National Migration Service. 

The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, questioned Panama’s decision to close at least three of the crossings used by migrants to cross the Darien River, which marks the border between the two countries, and said that this will only lead to “people drowning at sea.”