Panama has carried out its first-ever deportation flights for illegal immigrants, funded by the United States under a repatriation deal struck with Washington last month.
According to officials from Washington and the Latin American nation, the majority of illegal immigrants entering Panama are headed for the United States.
Those on board the deportation flight had entered the country illegally through the border between Panama and Colombia, crossing the Darien jungle, also known as the Darien Gap, according to the statement.
Photographs presented with the statement show the illegal immigrants lined up on the runway next to the aircraft, being screened by law enforcement officials with metal detectors.
The illegal immigrants were shackled and handcuffed and did not appear to be carrying luggage.
Panamanian Deputy Security Minister Luis Felipe Icaza said that some of those who deported on the flights had criminal records in their home country.
One of the illegal immigrants is allegedly linked to a high-profile case involving the Clan del Golfo, also known as the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which is one of the main drug trafficking cartels operating in the region.
More Repatriation Flights to Come
In a July 1 statement announcing the memorandum of cooperation, the U.S. Department of State said it was funding the “foreign assistance program” and would support “training and capacity building to strengthen and institutionalize safe, humane repatriation processes in Panama.”It is unclear how much the State Department has budgeted for the program. The Epoch Times contacted the State Department for comment but didn’t receive a reply by publication time.
The next flights under the deal will be announced in the coming days, although talks are already underway with Ecuador and India, according to the latest statement.
The frequency of the flights will depend on the flow of illegal immigrants into Panama. The director of the country’s National Migration Service, Roger Mojica, said in the statement that the government has already seen a 30 percent drop in illegal crossings since it signed the deal in July.
Mojica said that so far in 2024, more than 230,000 people have entered the country illegally through Darien, and so far in August, that figure has already exceeded 8,000 people.
In 2023, 520,000 illegal immigrants entered Panama through the Darien jungle; 60 percent of them were Venezuelan nationals trying to reach the United States, according to the statement.
Panama is unable to deport Venezuelans back to their home country because the two nations suspended diplomatic relations in June. The suspension followed Panama’s refusal to recognize the results of Venezuela’s presidential election, in which the country’s electoral body declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner.
