U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, meets with Panama Foreign Minister Erika Mouynes in Washington, D.C. this week. (photo courtesy Tony Gonzales)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nU.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, said Mouynes also met with him and said her country has seen a huge spike in migrants passing through, from 800 a month to 20,000 a month recently. He says she told him some individuals with ties to Al-Qaeda intent on traveling to the United States were apprehended in Panama.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinister Mouynes provided incredibly helpful insight into what Panama has been experiencing as a part of this migrant crisis,\u201d said Gonzales, who represents Texas\u2019 23rd<\/sup>\u00a0Congressional District, which includes East El Paso County. \u201cI urge the Biden Administration to work with her, as well as her counterparts in other countries, to find a solution to the collective crisis our countries are facing.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Darien Gap in Panama, a wilderness area in the isthmus, is a popular crossing for migrants making their way north out of South America.<\/p>\n
In Tapachula, Mexico, activists say 800 Haitian and Central American migrants have been crossing the Guatemalan border every day. Shelters are full and frustration is growing with the Mexican government\u2019s slow pace of issuing permits so the Haitians can get past National Guard and National Immigration Institute checkpoints.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are persons in need, they left their country, and under the law, refugees must be protected. We hope they are respected and treated according to law,\u201d immigrant activist Irineo Mujica said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Twitter.<\/p>\n
Mujica, a U.S. citizen and Mexico director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, says he\u2019s helped 1,500 Haitians file legal writs known as\u00a0amparos\u00a0<\/em>so they\u2019re allowed to leave Tapachula. Dozens of Central American and Haitian migrants could be seen on Wednesday at Tapachula\u2019s Bicentennial Park waiting to fill out paperwork and getting medical services from volunteers.<\/p>\nBorder Report on Thursday spoke on the phone with human rights defenders and journalists in Tapachula. They said they have seen no caravans as such, but that the daily flow of new migrants remains in the hundreds despite a recent dip coinciding with the aftermath of the events in Del Rio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe migrants are coming here from Guatemala, and Guatemala now is cracking down on migration. Also, the (smugglers) have increased their fees. They normally charge $3 to get them across the Suchiate River (between Mexico and Guatemala), but now they\u2019re charging them $10,\u201d said a local newspaper editor.<\/p>\n
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The journalist said these factors have slowed down the daily flow of migrants from the 800 who were coming a few days ago to around 500 now. A human rights defender, though, said he expects the flows to pick up and remain high for the next three years. That\u2019s because, in addition to recent natural and sociopolitical disasters in Haiti, jobs have been drying up for them in South America due to the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the tip of the iceberg,\u201d the activist said. You can read his story Friday on Border Report.
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