Panama is using barbed wire to try to block a major route for U.S.-bound migrants

Source: NBC News

Panama is using barbed wire to try to block a major route for U.S.-bound migrants

Panama said it has blocked the "majority of border crossings" with the new barriers, but videos are already circulating that appear to show migrants going under them.

July 8, 2024, 3:30 PM EDT
By Didi Martinez and Julia Ainsley

In a bid to block U.S.-bound migrants, Panama has installed barbed-wire fencing along the Darien Gap, sparking panic among migrants trying to cross the jungle that links South and Central America — but not necessarily stopping them.

Videos of the barbed-wire barriers appeared as early as June 27 in WhatsApp groups for people planning to migrate to the U.S., causing users to ask who was behind the move and if they could still get across the jungle. Since then, the Ministry of Public Security of the Republic of Panama has claimed responsibility for the new installations.

“The patrol at the national border service has begun to block the majority of border passages,” Panama’s minister of public security, Frank Abrego, said at a June 28 news conference during a visit to the Darien Gap.

Abrego said that one passage will remain open and that migrants there must present a passport or another form of identification to Panamanian migration authorities. All this, he said, is an effort to manage the flow of people coming in and to prevent organized crime from entering Panamanian cities.

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Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/panama-using-barbed-wire-block-darien-gap-us-bound-migrants-rcna159774