2023-05-10 02:43:00
Bajo Chiquito, Panama.- Long wooden boats packed with migrants in orange life jackets arrived one following another, plowing up the Turquesa River and propelled by outboard motors.
At the end of the day, the authorities registered 2,000 migrants in this remote part of the river on the edge of the Darien jungle that joins Panama and Colombia.
Some have vague information — from their relatives, social networks and smugglers — regarding the upcoming change in border policy by the US government and are rushing to that distant border.
On May 11, the United States government will end pandemic-related restrictions on people seeking asylum at the border — also known as Title 42, under which migrants have been removed from the United States in 2.8 million times since March 2020.
The uncertainty around what will happen following the restrictions end, as well as the possibility of new caps on asylum, was used by migrant smugglers to create an unnecessary sense of urgency for people to make decisions with wrong information.
Fearing the surge in arrivals, US officials have expanded legal pathways, urging would-be migrants to register before making the journey and proposed tough asylum restrictions for people traveling through Mexico.
Those who do not qualify will be deported and a five-year ban will be applied to re-enter the country.
As migrants cross the Darién, there have been no visible signs of the efforts the United States, Panama and Colombia promised a month ago to curb migration at the bottleneck between these regions.
In Necocli, Colombia, between 1,000 and 1,200 migrants a day board boats that transport them to the Gulf of Acandi on the Colombian side of the Darién, according to local human rights authorities.
The smugglers charge $10,000 and don’t tell them they’re going to be expelled.
For months, the US government has encouraged migrants to register with its CBP One online application instead of making that dangerous trek to the border.
If applicants are eligible for asylum and have a financial sponsor in the United States, they receive an appointment at the border for further review.
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