U.S.-Bound Migrants Surge at Darien Jungle Crossing in Panama

[Judi Lynn]

People fleeing Haiti, Ecuador and even China make the perilous journey, portending spike at U.S. border in coming months



A group of migrants, mainly Venezuelans, crossing the Darien Gap from Colombia into Panama.
PHOTO: FERNANDO VERGARA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Ryan Dube and Shen Lu
March 16, 2023 11:00 am ET

The number of migrants crossing into Panama after trudging through the treacherous Darien Gap jungle reached record levels in the first two months of the year, data from Panama showed, posing a fresh challenge to their destination country, the U.S.

In January and February, 49,291 people from as near as Haiti and as far away as China have crossed the Darien, a span of rainforest separating Panama from Colombia. That is more than a fivefold increase from the 8,964 migrants in the same period last year, according to Panama’s immigration office.

. . .

Panama’s growing number of migrants, who tell officials they are mostly bound for the U.S., now points to a likely increase of people arriving at the U.S.’s southern border in the coming months as they flee economic hardship, crime and political unrest at home.

About 2,200 Chinese migrants were among those crossing the Darien Gap in the first two months of 2023, a sharp increase in a group that has usually made up a much smaller proportion of migrants through the area. During the same period last year, 71 Chinese migrants were recorded passing through Panama.



Haitian migrants waded through a river in the Darien Gap in October last year.
PHOTO: FERNANDO VERGARA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

More:
https://archive.ph/te9je#selection-307.0-307.303

[TreasonousBastard]

1. So, the greatest country in the world forces people to travel like...

this as we face a worker shortage.

[Judi Lynn]

2. So true! When it was known that certain trails were used for the crossing,

U.S. authorities took time to construct barriers to those routes, forcing travelers to seek other paths to get to the U.S., which means they were fed back into more dangerous areas, more treacherous conditions, and of course, more people started dying as a result.

The numbers are never really publicly acknowledged, because they are horrid, and some bodies are simply lost in the desert completely, and never counted.

There are US racists who make a point of going into the desert to look for the small stashes of water bottles conscientious US Americans take out there, hoping to leave them for the struggling travelers to find, hoping to help. The haters always destroy the bottles when they find them, of course.

We can only hope good people outnumber the monsters out there!

Here's a quick google grab which might be illuminating, have to underscore official records are always well under the actual number of lives lost each year:

How many people die crossing the US-Mexico border?

Fleeing violence and poverty, thousands of migrants from Central and South America make the long and dangerous journey from Mexico to the United States every year. Hundreds perish in the process.

Published on Tue, October 25, 2022 3:32PM PDT | Updated Mon, December 12, 2022 3:37PM PST

Since 1998, at least 8,000 undocumented migrants have died attempting to cross the border from Mexico to the US. Their journey often involves traveling through desert areas where there’s few sources of water, steep rocky terrain, and temperatures reaching 118°F during the summer.

Extreme heat, drownings, and falls are some of the frequent causes of death for those trying to cross.

According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), violence, poverty, and economic insecurity are the factors “driving unprecedented levels of migration” to the US-Mexico border.

While thousands of migrants at the border apply for asylum in the United States every year, the vast majority of applications go unapproved. In 2021, 670 out of 14,361 applicants, or 4.7%, with a Mexican nationality were granted asylum.[1]

What does the US-Mexico border look like?
The US-Mexico border spans 1,951 miles. It cuts across the Sonoran Desert, which covers parts of Mexico, Arizona, and California, the Chihuahuan Desert, which covers Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas, and the Rio Grande River, which divides Texas and Mexico.

More:
https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-people-die-crossing-the-us-mexico-border/