PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -Panama’s authorities expects to begin deportation flights for migrants who crossed the nation’s harmful Darien jungle in two to 3 months, the nation’s chief of migration Roger Mojica mentioned Friday.
The flights will likely be paid by the US below a current settlement that the 2 international locations closed earlier this month.
“We are establishing the needs, equipment and requirements that Panama has to face in order to start the program, and we are in conversations with the United States,” Mojica mentioned throughout a convention name. “We estimate we should be able to start the process in two to three months.”
Panama’s new president, Jose Raul Mulino, has vowed to curb illegal immigration and has began to work carefully with the U.S. to manage passage via the jungle that hyperlinks Central America to Colombia.
Panama’s Darien Hole, a jungle which bridges Central America with the South American continent, noticed a file half one million migrants cross final 12 months looking for safety and higher financial alternatives overseas.
Panamanian authorities estimate some 213,702 thousand crossed the Darien to this point this 12 months, a lot of them youngsters.
The subject of migration has gained traction forward of elections within the U.S., a key vacation spot for a lot of migrants, with Republican candidate and former President Donald Trump vowing stronger borders and mass deportations.