The ambassador in charge of the United States in Colombia, Francis Palmieriadvised this Saturday to the Venezuelans seeking to cross the Darien Gapon the border with Panama, which don’t risk your life to get to the US.because from this week those who try to enter illegally are deported to Mexico.
“I spoke with Venezuelan migrants in Necoclí and left them an important message: know the new legal way to enter the US do not risk your lives and those of your families. Venezuelans who try to enter illegally will be expelled to Mexico,” the diplomat said on Twitter.
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Palmieri dressed this Saturday Necoclíin the Colombian department of Antioquia (northwest), where this week there were some 9,000 migrants imprisoned waiting to get a boat that would take them to Acandí, in Chocó, to start their journey through the Darién.
The ambassador was in this Caribbean town with the Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs of Colombia, Laura Gil, because, as he said, all countries have “the responsibility to address the regional migration crisis.”
This week, the US government announced that from now on it will return Venezuelans who cross the southern border to Mexico, a measure with which it seeks to control migration.
Along with the announcement of the new reality on the border, The United States also created a new immigration relief program for Venezuelans with which they hope to “disincentivize the movement” of migration through different countries in the region, including Panama and Mexico.
The program, which is assimilated to a benefit that the US already gives to the people of Ukraine, is capped at 24,000 applicantsa much lower number compared to the number of Venezuelans who have been arrested crossing the border with Mexico in recent months.
Only last August there were more than 25,000 arrests and in the last 11 months the figure rises to regarding 150,000, according to data from the Office of Customs and Border Protection.
Crisis in El Darien
The The Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia warned this week regarding the worsening of the humanitarian crisis that exists on the border with Panamawhere there are currently some 9,000 migrants waiting to cross the Darien to North America.
This year “the migratory crisis is much more serious than that registered last year” and that “the number of people in human mobility who have passed to Panama exceeds 150,000, compared to the 134,000 migrants in all of 2021,” the agency added. .
While 4,415 migrants crossed the border in January this year, 31,055 did so in August.which gives an idea of the increase in the number of people seeking to cross over to Panama in order to continue their journey by land to the United States
