President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown hasn’t just shut down illegal migrant crossings at the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
Migrants are getting the message as far as South America: It’s not worth the trip.
Migrant crossings through Panama’s dangerous Darién Gap, a mountainous jungle region that serves as the only land bridge between South and Central America, have plummeted to near zero in recent months.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on July 31 that migrant crossings at the Darién Gap decreased by 99.98% for the months of May and June 2025, compared to a peak under the Biden Administration in August 2023.
“The dangerous Darién Gap trek is notorious for exposing migrants, including children and the most vulnerable, to sexual abuse, trafficking and exploitation,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. “In Panama’s Darién Gap, migrants are now turning back before they even reach our border.”
In May, there were only 13 crossings and the number fell again in June to just 10, according to figures released by both DHS and Panama’s National Migration Service.
“This is a massive decline in illegal migration through one of the key channels normally utilized by would-be illegal aliens to invade our country,” DHS said.
As word spread of President Joe Biden’s open borders, the Darién Gap served as a popular but treacherous route for tens of thousands of U.S.-bound migrants, including dangerous criminals and cartel members.
Nearly 82,000 migrants made the dangerous trek in August 2023. That number dropped to around 400 in February 2025, Fox News Digital reported.
The Tico Times, Costa Rica’s leading English newspaper, reported the route had previously been used by one million migrants heading to the United States over the past three years.
The Darién Gap is used by immigrants mainly from Venezuela, but also Haiti, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The route also saw an uptick in migrants from Central and West Africa, the Middle East and South Asia—who first travel to South America and use the Darien to reach the United States or Canada, according to a report by Human Rights Watch.
There’s been a 99.8% drop in illegal aliens using the Darien Gap to get into the United States.
During the Biden years, THOUSANDS of children and women were r*ped while traveling through this region.
DHS Assistant Secretary @TriciaOhio had this to say:
“Thanks to President… pic.twitter.com/Nei8N9pOJz
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) July 31, 2025
Now the roadless, 60-mile stretch is virtually deserted amid Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign and border security efforts.
“The world is hearing our message that America’s borders are closed to lawbreakers,” McLaughlin said. “Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, we have the most secure border in American history.”
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino also vowed to shutter the deadly route in his 2024 election campaign, which led him to power, and pushed to seal off the passage with increased immigration patrols.
“We have closed an operation that began in 2016,” when migration through the Darién noticeably increased, Mulino said at a press conference in March, per The Tico Times.
Due to the influx of migrants in recent years, the Panamanian government and UN agencies set up medical posts to assist travelers, including many children and the elderly. Panama has begun dismantling the camps that were set up to provide assistance.
Now, “another flow is coming, the one from the north, which is beginning to rise,” Mulino noted, referring to migrants who have decided to return to South America.
Migrants headed south do not need to cross the jungle to reach Colombia; instead, they travel by boat from small Caribbean ports in Panama. “We will not allow more migrants in the Darién region,” warned Mulino in The Tico Times article.
The tropical jungle can only be navigated by foot, with very dense rainforest and mountainous terrain straddling the Colombia-Panama border. It can take more than a week to cross, and migrants do so at their own risk.
Human Rights Watch reported that 253 migrants died or went missing in the Darién Gap between 2014 and 2021. Panamanian authorities reported finding 124 bodies in the gap between January 2021 and April 2023 — figures most likely represent only a fraction of the number of deaths.
Those who make the perilous journey must traverse mountains and rivers, where the rainfall in the region produces flash floods that result in drownings and death.
Trump’s tough stance on immigration has virtually stopped the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not released a single illegal migrant into the country in recent months, according to White House officials.
“Word of the United States’ secure border has spread so far around the world, that migrants aren’t even willing to make the dangerous journey to get here because they know they’ll be turned away,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement Friday to Fox News Digital. “In recent months, Border Patrol has released zero illegal aliens into the United States. That’s a stat known all the way from here to the Darién Gap.”
The administration remains focused on removing those who entered the country illegally, particularly those who commit crimes or repeatedly return after being deported.
DHS continues to push voluntary self-deportation through the CBP Home App, a platform that offers a free plane ticket and a $1,000 exit bonus, paid after their return is confirmed through the app.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem have been clear: If you come to our country illegally, we will find you, arrest you, and deport you. That’s a promise,” McLaughlin said in a statement Friday to Fox News Digital.
