US will dish out cash to help Panama deport migrants heading to border as Panama vows to close migrant superhighway

The United States will start forking out cash for flights to help Panama deport illegal migrants caught using the treacherous Darien Gap — a major passageway used by those trying to get to the US border.Under a new deal signed Monday, the US has agreed to “cover” the costs of repatriating the illegal migrants after Panama’s new President, José Raúl Mulino, vowed to shut down the dangerous stretch of jungle that has already been traversed by more than 500,000 migrants in the last year.As part of the commitment, which was inked by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the US will offer up equipment, transportation and logistics to send the illegal migrants back to their native countries, the Panamanian government said.It wasn’t immediately clear how much money the US was set to contribute towards the flights.US Homeland Security teams on the ground in the Central American country will also help the government there train personnel and build up its own expertise and ability to determine which migrants, under Panama’s immigration laws, could be booted from the country, according to two US administration officials.For those migrants who are to be kicked out, the US would pay for charter flights or commercial airplane tickets for them to return to their home countries, the officials said.The program would be entirely under Panama’s control and the US would have no say on who to deport, the officials added.

A National Security Council spokesperson declined to provide further details on the deal — only saying the US would “support” efforts to repatriate migrants in Panama illegally.The deal is “designed to jointly reduce the number of migrants being cruelly smuggled through the Darien, usually en route to the United States,” the rep said in a statement, adding that the efforts would “help deter irregular migration in the region and at our southern border, and halt the enrichment of malign smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable mi...