Policy 360: The Cost of Crossing: Foreign Policy Implications of the Darién Gap Migration Route
The Pan-American Highway, 19,000 miles beginning in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and terminating in Ushuaia, Argentina, houses what some have dubbed to be “No Man’s Land,” or the Darién Gap. This space of undeveloped wetland and forest, tucked at the border between Panama and Colombia, accounts for approximately 60 miles of the Highway, and is shrouded in infamy. Among events that transpire are thievery, assault, trafficking, and supposed “deadly creatures” run amok. As the only break in the Pan-American Highway, the Darién Gap makes crossing from South America to Central America by road impossible. 50,000 migrants from Panama have already attempted to cross the Gap insofar in 2023, with 250,000 migrants making the crossing in 2022–a concerning jump in numbers, if migration continues to trend this way. Alberto Brunori, the Central America regional representative of the U.N. Human Rights Office, had found this to be unprecedented. Santiago Paz, Chief of IOM Panama and Head of the Panama Global Administrative Center (PAC), illustrated that there was an urgent need to coordinate between governments and cooperate internationally to respond to the humanitarian crisis produced by the crossing of the Gap.
This roundtable seeks to explore how the Darién Gap, a dangerous migration route between Columbia and Panama, has made the already treacherous and difficult task of immigration more taxing for migrants from a myriad of different countries. From encapsulating how Panama has thus far failed to police the Darién Gap, to how this further affects immigration between Mexico and the U.S. and urges modifications to U.S. international policy, these pieces engage with a multi-pronged, pressing issue. They also allow readers to further understand a region of the world beyond circular discussions of its uninhabitability and surface level dangers.
A Deadly Extension of the Darién Gap: Is Mexico A Safe Haven?
By Aleka Gomez-Sotomayor-Roel, Columbia College ‘25
As migrants from Haiti, Venezuela, and other regions make the transcontinental journey in search of a better life—fleeing death threats, political persecution, or forced recruitment by gangs or drug cartels—Mexico’s southern border serves as an additional obstacle in their pursuit of asylum. A record number of migrants have endangered their lives crossing the Darién Gap to reach the U.S., risking exposure to disease and violence at the hands of militant groups. Traversing Mexico is inevitably linked to this issue. Once migrants reach the southern border, their difficulties persist; the already fraught path to obtain asylum is tainted with reports of abuse and arbitrary treatment at the hands of Mexican border officials.
The Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR), the agency responsible for processing refugee status recognition applications, received over 130,000 requests in 2021, with approximately 90,000 of those filed in Tapachula. Mexico’s asylum system, underfunded and unequipped for the ever-increasing influx of applications, has been cracking under pressure. Mexico’s policy of containing asylum seekers to a single city has led to an even greater demand on its asylum system and an acute humanitarian crisis on the ground.
Regional immigration policy serves as an external stimulus for Mexico’s current strategy of securitization. Panama’s approach has been to turn a blind eye to smuggling ships that allow migrants to bypass the Darién Gap. A focus on facilitation as opposed to deterrence has permitted migrants to funnel through Panama, and reach Mexico on their path north. These policies have repeatedly culminated in violent confrontations between migrants and Mexican officials. When agents from the National Institute of Migration (INM) and National Guard were deployed to the southern border to break up caravans of northbound asylum seekers in September 2021, they resorted to violence to detain families. Such brutal events call attention not only to a pattern of abuses perpetrated by the INM, but also to the presence of a containment-centric approach to migration which may easily go awry.
For many, the answer to Mexico’s increased militarization lies on the other side of the border. Under President Trump, the U.S. threatened to impose tariffs if Mexico failed to secure its borders. Mexico responded by deploying National Guard members to its southern border, expanding the “Remain in Mexico” program, and imposing new visa requirements. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador asserted that this shift in Mexico’s policy was to protect migrants from gangs operating in the north. Nevertheless, the increased presence of the National Guard has made it difficult for migrants to traverse Mexico. As the U.S. continues to fortify its borders, outsourcing its immigration to Mexico, the repercussions of their policies will play out in the Darién Gap and Mexico’s southern border.
Mexico should aim to improve asylum procedures by ensuring that COMAR is properly funded to streamline the processing of visas for refugees. Given Tapachula’s proximity to Guatemala, it will continue to be a point of passage for migrants, and keeping them in an area ill-equipped to provide their basic needs will further exacerbate the issue. Instead, Mexico should allow them to relocate while their cases are processed. Mexico must also seek to broaden the path to migration status, as offering asylum as the sole option is insufficient when the asylum system is overwhelmed and under-resourced. For those at increased risk of persecution in Mexico, regional cooperation could also improve the situation. As migrants continue to make the treacherous journey across the Darién Gap, they will inevitably reach Mexico in search of aid and asylum— the responsibility thus falls on Mexico to make the process humane, equitable, and efficient.
Opportunities to Protect Migrants Through Leadership and Revived Policies in The United States
By Adam Rowan, Columbia College ‘24
Every path has an end. For the migrants willing to cross the Darién Gap, the final destination is not immediately across the treacherous jungle. In the first nine months of 2022 alone, more than 151,000 migrants crossed this land in hopes of eventually arriving in the U.S. As the primary destination goal and most powerful country in the region, the United States has a unique responsibility to offer assistance where it can and provide support to the people who are willing to face death, or worse, at the border between Panama and Colombia.
The most significant block to migrants' access into the United States is Title 42, a law that turns away noncitizens from the U.S. border without allowing them to to seek protections like asylum in order to protect U.S. public health. It has continued despite the lifting of other pandemic-era laws and restrictions. This Title has led to chaos at the border and the inability for migrants to seek asylum; many often try to cross the border again after getting turned away. With Title 42 likely to be lifted this year, migration at the border is said to to increase significantly, requiring a response from the U.S. government. Earlier this year, the Biden administration released a fact sheet detailing their plan to combat the issue, including increasing the expedited removal process, which would lead to a forceful return of illegal migrants back to their home countries with a five year re-entry ban. This plan would also expand the parole process to allow 30,000 vetted parolees from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Cuba to enter the country every month, with the capability to live and work in the U.S. for two years. The United States, with 20 other nations in the Western Hemisphere, also outlined long-term solutions and cooperation commitments for increased migration safety in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.
These solutions will help mitigate the migration and humanitarian issues in the region. However, even if they are upheld, there needs to be some additions to U.S. international policy to adequately address migration at the Darién Gap. Long-term solutions depend on short term fixes to prevent the crisis from getting worse. A cooperation agreement that explicitly addresses security of the Gap and humanitarian aid for the countries on both sides of it is needed. In 2020, Panama allocated $13 million for humanitarian assistance around the Darién Gap. Without assistance from the U.S., the consequences of Darién Gap migration faced by some countries in the region may extend to other parts of the Americas.
Secondly, the U.S. needs to create more socioeconomic programs and opportunities for immigrants who cross the Darién Gap once they arrive in the U.S.—increased immigration and the necessity for socioeconomic programs directed at migrants are problems the country has faced for decades. When Cuban immigration rose in the 1960s, the U.S. government assisted refugees and local governments with programs like the Cuban Teacher Training Program, which helped hundreds of teachers find jobs and provided support to the Miami-Dade school system. Creating unique assistance programs like the Cuban Teacher Training Program will help reduce the perceived burden migration through the Darién Gap causes for the U.S.
Commitments are being made. Solutions are being drafted. Yet, migrants are still facing one of the most dangerous jungles in the world on their way to the U.S. Many of the plans are met with cooperation and hope, but specific action by the U.S. to help stabilize the Darién Gap and support arriving migrants are needed for real improvements to be made.
Forgotten Migrants: An Analysis of Panamanian Policy in the Darién Gap
By Jonathan Waldmann, Columbia College ‘26
Located on the border between Panama and Colombia, the Darién Gap is one of the busiest migrant crossing points in the Americas. It is also one of the deadliest stretches of land in the world, and its lawlessness has allowed traffickers and armed groups to thrive, leading to violence against migrants. The resulting immigration crisis in the Darién Gap has created a border catastrophe for Panama that poses both a political and a humanitarian threat to the nation.
Panama's strategy thus far has been to funnel immigrants through its nation as quickly as possible with the aim of limiting the number of undocumented migrants on its soil. Unfortunately, this has become increasingly difficult as the flow of migrants into Panama via the Darién Gap has reached record high numbers. In response, the Panamanian government has sought alternative means of controlling the flow of immigrants. Notably, they have turned a blind eye to migrant smuggling on ships that allow them to bypass the Darién Gap, allowing migrants to land much further northwest on Panamanian territory. As a result of this policy change, the time required for migrants to pass through Panama has fallen from ten days to only two or three days. This has simultaneously reduced the number of migrant deaths and drastically increased the number of migrants passing through Panama on their way to the United States. Panama is also one of the few nations in the region that provides humanitarian aid to migrants. Nonetheless, it refuses to provide them with asylum, and instead only intends to ensure that they ultimately exit the country. Along with this, despite efforts to bolster security in the region, Panama still fails to adequately police the Darién Gap. This has allowed crime to burgeon in the Gap, leading migrants to face sexual violence and threats from organized crime groups. Showing this, Médécins Sans Frontières reports that 14 percent of the migrants receiving care at the Migrant Reception Stations in Panama are victims of sexual violence, however they believe the scale to be larger. In addition, regional organized crime groups such as the Urabeños reportedly coerce migrants into trafficking drugs across the Darién Gap on their behalf.
In order to address the costs of Panama’s current unsustainable immigration policy, Panamanian officials must have two focuses going forward: bolstering humanitarian assistance to migrants and collaborating with neighboring nations. Panama’s role in the region is primarily as a waystation for migrants between South America and the United States. As such, the government must collaborate more actively with NGOs such as the Panamanian Red Cross and Médécins Sans Frontières to expand medical care for migrants. On a similar note, Panama has expanded cooperation with its neighbors in recent years. This has become most evident with the signing of a bilateral agreement with the United States in April 2022, which sought to “improve migration management,” according to U.S. immigration officials. The agreement specifically allowed immigrant smuggling ships from Colombia to bypass the Darién Gap entirely and land further northwest up the Panamanian coast, an area that had previously been blocked by the Panamanian coast guard. Nonetheless, immigration policy in the Americas remains fractured, and greater cooperation on humanitarian aid and regional security is both a moral and policy imperative for Panama. With greater cooperation among governments and with NGOs, the trek through the Darién Gap would become significantly safer for migrants, and the violence which currently plagues the region should decrease precipitously.
Crisis in Haiti Extends its Impact into the Darién Gap
By Zachary Troher, Columbia College ‘26
Even in a country used to tropical storms and other natural disasters, the earthquake that shook Haiti in 2010 was a cruel blow. The earthquake left over 100,000 casualties, displaced a million more, and dealt a fateful blow to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Since then, the blows have not stopped coming. Coinciding with a presidential assassination, cholera outbreak, and another earthquake, and you’d get a sense of how this tiny country of just over 11 million people is faring in the twenty-first century. In a country now controlled by warring gangs, with three-fifths of its population living under the poverty line, it is no wonder that the country is also facing a vast emigration problem, with nearly 1 percent of the entire population emigrating in the past decade. The most common path for migrants seeking solace in the United States starts in South America, the easiest entry point outside of Haiti. This then requires a perilous journey north, through the Darién Gap, an undeveloped strip of jungle between Panama and Colombia.
In 2021, over 64,000 migrants attempted the journey through the Darién Gap, the vast majority of which were Haitian. They continue to face many dangers, ranging from the physical difficulty of crossing unpaved jungle on foot to dealing with human traffickers. Despite these threats, tens of thousands of migrants continue to attempt the journey, desperately seeking economic opportunity and security in the United States. Haitian migrants were first attracted to Brazil, but as these opportunities dried up, migrants were pushed north, necessitating their crossing of the Gap. As one of the wettest, hottest, and most humid regions in the world, the Darién Gap provides unique, deadly challenges to migrants. With no formal infrastructure or government, exploitation and rape are common threats faced by Haitian migrants, and these factors create a deadly combination for many migrants who, in turn, do not survive the quest.
It is unclear what can be done to improve the fate of Haitian migrants, who are faced with two of the longest-lasting problems in the Western Hemisphere: the intractable Darién Gap, and the equally intractable nation of Haiti. Despite receiving over 17 billion dollars in foreign aid over the past 20 years, Haiti is still the poorest and least-educated country in the Americas, wrought with gender and economic inequality alike. Recent political instability has made the prospect of further aid, and development, even less likely. The Haitian government was recently desperate enough to request American troops to ensure stability. This economic and political instability is likely to blame for the lack of migration policy. Although Haiti has begun to call for aid, its government must request that other countries provide further support for Haitian migrants abroad, and mitigate repatriation of migrants which are overwhelming the country's infrastructure and exacerbating displacement inside the country. Beyond calling on other countries for support, to better address the driving forces of migration, before they cause further stress to the crisis at the Darién Gap, Haiti must address the root causes of their increased migrant numbers: poverty, insecurity, and a lack of jobs; doing so could provide the needed fix for this humanitarian crisis.
Although Haiti historically has had no parliament, and no elections since 2021, Ariel Henry, their most recent acting Prime Minister, should call upon international organizations that have formerly provided Haitian relief aid, such as 21 African countries and the United States. Without a continent-wide solution to migration and economic inequality, countless more migrants will be driven to make the perilous journey across the Darién Gap, many of them inevitably from Haiti. There must be increased diplomatic efforts to provide security and humanitarian assistance in Haiti, coupled with increased international support that Haiti must call upon.
Conclusion
Fundamentally, the crisis in the Darién gap is an issue of collective action. Lacking the infrastructure to handle the influx of migrants, states like Panama choose to pass-the-buck further north, rather than address their pressing needs for greater humanitarian assistance. Mexico has chosen a short-term solution in containing asylum seekers to Tapachula, rather than fully addressing the extent of the issue. Meanwhile the U.S. has blocked the influx of migrants with Title 42, and looks to expedite the removal processes—which might lead to a dangerous forceful return of illegal migrants. Indeed, a multilateral and multi-pronged approach must be taken to address the crisis in the region.
In the long-term, developing nations must broker political and social stability, and implement robust infrastructure that prevents the outflow of migrants in the first place. They must call for greater humanitarian and security assistance from NGOs and wealthier nations, and developed nations must respond to these calls with greater funding and strategies to ensure sustainable outcomes. This process will undoubtedly be a slow and painful one. Meanwhile, migrants will inevitably choose to leave. Thus, countries should facilitate broader pathways for migration, improve asylum procedures, and help migrants find safe settlement.
Nevertheless, it is crucial for states to collaborate with each other in enacting both policies that address the present crisis and in formulating long-term solutions. The realization of these policies is critical to both the security of their nations and to securing the welfare of migrants.