Panama deports 29 Colombians on first US-funded flight

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Panama has expelled 29 Colombians with criminal records on its first US-funded deportation flight to deter illegal migration.

The men – including one alleged member of the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s biggest drugs cartel – touched down after a 90-minute flight on Tuesday at Medellín, the country’s second largest city.

The programme is the flagship policy of José Raúl Mulino, Panama’s new president, who has vowed to “close” the Darién Gap, the bottleneck of dense jungle that separates South America from Central America.

Last year, 520,000 migrants illegally entered Panama via the Darién Gap, with many having to pay people-smugglers to complete the journey.

Most of them came from Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, although some were from as far afield as Africa and China. Almost all were attempting to reach the United States.

Illegal immigration is one the most contentious issues in the US presidential election.

The number of undocumented migrants crossing into the US from Mexico initially surged under Joe Biden, but it has fallen sharply in recent months after his administration implemented tough new measures, including restricting the number of asylum applications it would consider.

Yesterday’s flight, which is among those measures, was the first in a $6 million (£4.6 million) programme paid for by Washington.

Mr Mulino, who is usually characterised as a centre-Right populist, has described the migrants’ plight as sad and said that many families with small children are left taking huge risks.

After taking office in July, he initially appeared to waver on his promises to implement the flights, saying that only “volunteers” would be deported. It is unclear whether the Colombians on yesterday’s flight had agreed to leave Panama, although their criminal records may have meant they were given no choice.

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Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66c9291372a2482289b525106971748a&url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fnews%2Fpanama-deports-29-colombians-first-164620571.html&c=9951768798979145538&mkt=en-us Author : Publish date : 2024-08-21 01:46:00 Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source .