Crossings over the treacherous landbridge that connects South and Central America, called the Darien Gap, have plummeted to near-zero amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Darien Gap, which connects Colombia and Panama, witnessed hundreds of thousands of migrants traveling north through it in 2023 during the Biden administration. But just 10 migrants traveled north through the dangerous stretch of jungle in June, marking a stunning drop after six months of the Trump administration.
The Department of Homeland Security celebrated the precipitous decline in crossings through the Darien Gap.
“In Panama’s Darien Gap, migrants are turning BACK before they even reach our border — only 10 migrants crossed in June,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, adding that the new figures amount to more than a 99.8% drop from migration through the region under the Biden administration. “The world is hearing our message that America’s borders are closed to lawbreakers.”
The figures come as migrant encounters on the southern border of the United States continue to drop dramatically, with officials recording fewer encounters in the month of June than were seen in single days under the Biden administration.
Not only are migrants not traveling through the jungle passageway — which is replete with alligators and snakes — many even turned around and went south through the region at the start of President Donald Trump’s term.
Colombia witnessed a drastic increase in the number of migrants crossing back into the narrow stretch of jungle toward their home countries in South America earlier this year. The nation recorded just under 10,000 people crossing back south from January to February, a significant increase from the previous year, when just over 4,000 returned south from the Darien Gap.
The Colombian government issued a report indicating that the new trend was the result of the Trump administration’s border security policies. “The majority of migrants indicate they come from Mexico, where they had been waiting for an appointment with U.S. authorities for one to three months,” the report noted before going on to say “with the change in U.S. immigration policies, they made the decision to return.”
Panamanian President Jose Mulino asserted in March that his administration would not allow migrants to cross into the Darien Gap and ordered the closure of sites to assist migrants in their northward trek.