Between January 1 and 18, 577 irregular migrants arrived in Panama, returning to South America after their plans to settle in the United States were thwarted. Under Donald Trump's second presidency, the United States has launched a campaign of mass deportations as part of the tightening of the country's immigration policy.
The worst year of the crisis was 2023, when 520,085 irregular travelers, the vast majority Venezuelans, crossed the jungle, far above the 248,283 in 2022 and the 133,726 in 2021, according to official figures.
Panama's immigration authorities informed EFE that as of last Sunday, 555 Venezuelans, seven Colombians, three Ecuadorians, three Americans, and nine citizens from extracontinental countries had arrived in the country.
The total number of migrants in the reverse flow who arrived in Panama in 2025 was 22,833, of which over 90% are Venezuelans, followed by Colombians, Peruvians, and Ecuadorians.
The drastic drop in migration flows to North America is attributed to the tough immigration policy of President Trump's government, based on mass deportations and strong internal restrictions for this population, to which Panamanian measures such as the closure of trails in the Darién jungle are added.
This reverse journey, from north to south, reflects the end of the migration crisis that ravaged the Darién starting in 2021, mainly involving Venezuelans fleeing the widespread crisis in their country.
In Panama, they mainly arrive in Miramar, a village on the Caribbean coast, where they take boats to reach the community of Puerto Obaldía, in the jungle province of Darién, bordering Colombia, from where they travel by sea to the Colombian town of Necoclí.
«Irregular transits through Darién plummeted from 302,203 in 2024 to just 3,091 this year, a 99% reduction,» the Ministry of Public Security reported on December 31.
Most come from Mexico, where they were stranded due to the impossibility of crossing the border with the U.S. due to tightened controls.
