Panama deports 130 Indians who took the ‘donkey route’

VERACRUS: Panama 130 illegal Indian immigrants were deported on Friday migrants who had entered the country through the inhospitable jungles of Darien, under an agreement on repatriations signed with the US in July. This was the first such deportation outside the US under the deal, and the fourth in total.
The US has pledged $6 million to repatriate migrants from the Central American country, hoping to reduce the number of illegal crossings at its own southern border.
Panama’s migration director, Roger Mojica, told reporters that the Indians were deported on a charter flight to New Delhi. At the same press briefing, the U.S. security attaché for Panama said: Central America Marlen Pineiro said Washington is “very grateful to the government of Panama for all this support,” adding: “Irregular migration cannot continue.”
The Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama has become a major corridor for migrants traveling overland from South America through Central America and Mexico to the US.
Despite the dangers, including attacks by criminal gangs, more than half a million undocumented migrants, mostly Venezuelans, crossed the Darién last year.
Transit countries like Panama and Mexico are under increasing pressure from Washington to tackle the highly contentious migration issue in a US election year.
The July deal provides for an initial phase of deportation of migrants with criminal records, but could also include the repatriation of anyone who enters Panama through the notoriously dangerous and rugged Darien Gap region. The deal was signed on the same day that Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino took office after a campaign in which he promised to crack down on Darien Gap border crossings.
With Friday’s deportation, Panama has expelled 219 migrants in two weeks.