Three months from the White House elections, the first deportation flight carrying migrants from South America takes off, the result of an agreement between Washington and the Panamanian government
Twenty-nine Colombian nationals departed at dawn on Tuesday, 20 August, on a flight that took off from Panama City airport bound for the South American country. It is the first repatriation flight for irregular migrants organised by the Panamanian government and funded by the White House, aimed at curbing the migratory phenomenon that sees the United States as its primary destination. An agreement that became operational under the Biden administration and that Vice President Kamala Harris — just handed the official presidential nomination at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago — has never called into question.
The first deportation flight operated by the airline AirPanama left the country's capital early in the morning, with passengers boarding in the dark. On board were twenty-nine Colombians, all with criminal records for offences committed in their country of origin. Each of those deported was escorted onto the plane in handcuffs and leg irons.
Panamanian authorities had arrested them immediately after they crossed the Darién Gap, a harsh and highly dangerous jungle connecting Colombia to Panama. For years this natural area of nearly 6,000 square kilometres has represented a crucial waypoint for people trying to reach the United States, despite the numerous hazards that have by now become widely known. In addition to being nearly impenetrable due to dense vegetation, the jungle is an inhospitable and unsafe place, home to venomous animals. But on top of the risks posed by nature, there is also the presence of armed gangs involved in drug trafficking and human trafficking, which represent the most serious and recurring danger for migrants attempting this northward passage.
Despite the risks, the Darién Gap is still regularly traversed. According to data released some months ago by the Panamanian government, approximately 520,000 people — the overwhelming majority of them Venezuelan — crossed it in 2023, a figure that is nearly double the 248,000 recorded in 2022. According to Unicef, the United Nations agency for children, one in five is a child and one in ten is under five years old.
Marlen Piñeiro, an official from the United States Department of Homeland Security, stated that the aim of the deportation flights is to send the message that the Darién is no longer a viable route, and that entry into the United States must take place exclusively through legal channels. As a result, flights such as the one that departed from Panama City will increase in frequency. This is established by the agreement concluded in early July between Biden and Mulino, who had himself run his electoral campaign on the promise that Panama would stop being a transit country.
According to Reuters, the terms of the deal include a budget of 6 million dollars for flights and training for Panamanian officers. Beyond the United States, the Central American country's government is also seeking to forge agreements with Colombia, as well as Ecuador and India. The situation with Venezuela is different, owing to the suspension of diplomatic relations following the disputed re-election of Maduro last month.
The timing of the first repatriation flight is no coincidence. It comes less than two months after the inauguration of Panama's new president, José Raúl Mulino, and above all at a moment when the United States Democratic Party convention is under way in Chicago — a convention that, following Biden's withdrawal in favour of Kamala Harris, is trying to close the gap separating it from Donald Trump in the polls. Setting aside economic issues and the battle over rights — abortion in particular — the immigration question is without doubt one of the fronts on which a large part of the race for the White House will be fought on the domestic front. On this issue, both Biden and Harris have always come under crossfire: from the right, accusations of failing to act to contain migratory pressure, and from figures such as Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who accuses the Biden administration of maintaining a hard and uncompromising line out of fear of ceding too much ground to the Trumpian narrative of an invasion from the south.
