In the past few weeks, over 20,000 migrants have crossed the border from Mexico into the U.S. and Panama’s foreign minister has warned that many more are on the way.
Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes said in an interview with Axios that more than 85,000 Haitian migrants have traveled through Panama so far this year. She also said she believes “they all are heading toward the U.S.”.
In order to get through Panama, migrants are coming from Colombia and traveling through the Darién Gap, a dangerous area of jungle and swamps. They then travel through Central America and into Mexico before getting to the U.S. border.
Mouynes mentioned that officials from South American countries, the U.S., Mexico, and Canada met in August to discuss immigration issues and she found it “shocking” that they had not met earlier. ‘We’ve engaged with every single authority that we can think of, that we can come across, to say, ‘Please, let’s pay attention to this”, she said.
Earlier this week, she met with several members of Congress and DHS’s Alejandro Mayorkas.
Mouynes told Axios that in order to get to the base of the problem, meetings should be arranged with other countries, including Haiti, so that they can work out plans to control immigration.
“We all have a role to play in this issue, and the regional approach is the correct approach”, she said.
She mentioned that besides the 85,000 that have already passed through her country, another 30,000 are waiting in Colombia because Panama cannot take them in.
