Monthly crossing of illegal immigrants through the Darien jungle plummets 99%

Panamanian authorities recorded a significant plunge in the number of illegal immigrants crossing the Darien Jungle to try to reach the United States from South America in February. Specifically, that drop was 98.9%, compared to data obtained in February 2024.

In its latest report, Panama's Migration Authority reported that 408 illegal immigrants originating mainly from South American, African and Asian countries took the dangerous route to try to reach the U.S. border in the second month of the year.

In February 2024, there were 37,166 illegal immigrants crossing the Darien jungle. According to the Panamanian government, 55 lost their lives last year.

The decline was also steep between the January and February 2025 records. In the first month of the year, 2,229 irregular migrants took this route to try to reach the United States. Thus, there was an 81.7% decrease between the two periods.

Most of the illegal immigrants who crossed the Darien jungle came from South American countries, such as Venezuela (151) and Colombia (21). However, also from other nations subjected to dictatorships and tyrannies or where there are difficulties having a decent quality of life, such as Cameroon (43), Bangladesh (22), Iran (17) and Congo (15).

As for the profile of immigrants crossing the route, the most common is an adult male between 18 and 35 years.

In February, 342 adults and 66 minors chose the Darien jungle to attempt to reach the United States. By gender, 267 men, 75 women, 35 boys and 31 girls.

The US and Panamanian governments have long been jointly managing the issue of immigration through the Darien jungle.

In August last year, the Panamanian president, José Raúl Mulino, and the then head of the US Southern Command, Laura Richardson, met to analyze the migratory crisis and reach a common point to block the passage of illegal immigrants through the Darién.

With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, talks on this specific situation have continued, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of direct communication with Mulino to discuss the migration crisis in the Darien jungle.