Immigrants attempting to arrive in the United States through the dangerous jungle of Darien Gap have fallen by 99%. This is a dramatic decline the White House celebrated by praise and praise the Trump administration’s immigration policy.
According to Migración Panama, a Panama immigration and naturalization service, only 408 immigrants crossed the Darien gap from Colombia to Panama in February. The total amount of 408 exceeded the 37,000 reported in February last year, down from 24,000 in February 2023.
In January, 2,229 immigrants crossed the Darien gap from Colombia to Panama. In 2023, Migración Panama recorded a total of 520,085 instances of irregular traffic passing through the Darien Gap. In 2024, the Panama Agency recorded a total of 302,203 instances of irregular transport through the area.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt mentioned Darien Gap’s slow traffic in a press release.
“The US is fighting back,” the spokesperson said.
The Darien Gap is a 60-mile long roadless jungle on the Colombia-Panamanian border, and those traveling through it are usually immigrants trying to reach the United States. Traveling the Darien Gap is considered dangerous not only due to the wildlife and harsh terrain, but also the presence of criminal gangs who expose immigrants to violence and sexual assault.
As Bloomberg reported Monday, the decline in traffic through the Darien Gap follows Panama’s Josera Urmulino administration, filling in the rise in jungle roads and security patrols in September.
And in recent months, traffic volumes at the southern US border have dropped sharply. In the first month of Trump’s second presidency, law enforcement and immigration monthly border encounters reached their lowest point in three years, according to US customs and border protection data.
In February 2025, 11,709 encounters occurred between illegal immigrants and immigration law enforcement officers seeking entry into the country. There were 61,465 encounters in January, and 96,035 encounters recorded in December 2024, the last month of the Biden administration.
President Trump has vowed to crack down on immigrants and improve border security, including increasing deportation of illegal immigrants.
Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs officials told reporters at a press conference Wednesday that ICE had arrested more than 32,000 illegal immigrants in the United States within the first 50 days of Trump’s second term.
“I want to make it clear that the first 50 days of President Trump’s administration’s ice arrests have overtaken those who were under the Biden administration,” said Ice Director Todd Lyons, according to a Washington examiner. “As of yesterday, ice arrests outweigh all of the major detective arrests last year. Double ice arrests is just the beginning.”
According to Lyons, the 32,000 people arrested since January 20 included 14,111 convicted offenders. Another 9,980 people pending criminal charges, 1,155 suspected gang members, and an additional 8,718 other immigration violations. The acting director of Ice said 8,718 people “violate US immigration laws, but this is also a crime.”
“We’ve finished our Catch (and) release and brought ICE back to its central mission, arresting people who violate our immigration law,” Lions said. “Secretary Noem and I are transforming ice culture into one of behavior and accountability.”
ICE officials said the agency hopes that arrests and eliminations will increase throughout the current presidential administration.
Earlier this week, CBP and DHS announced new features through the CBP Home app. This allowed illegal immigrants or aliens to inform the US government of their intention to depart the country.
The self-destruction feature of the application is part of a national and international advertising campaign that encourages illegal immigrants to leave the United States or face deportation, according to a statement Monday by DHS.
“The Biden administration has used one CBP app to enable more than a million aliens to enter the United States illegally,” said Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem. “The launch of the CBP Home App is restoring the integrity of the immigration system.”
“The CBP Home App offers aliens the option to leave and self-destruct right now, so they may still have the opportunity to legally return and live their American dreams,” she added. “If they don’t, we will find them, we will expel them, and they will never return.”
Originally published by The Christian Post
