CBS News reported that President Joe Biden’s administration wants to send immigration officials to Panama to address U.S.-bound migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security has identified a team of officials with experience screening asylum-seekers and deporting migrants that will be dispatched to Panama once a final agreement is reached with that country’s government, which asked for the assistance, the U.S. government officials said, requesting anonymity in order to discuss internal plans.The objective is to have personnel from various DHS agencies, including U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement train and assist Panamanian authorities as they grapple with an extraordinary flow of migrants into the Darién Gap, a rugged jungle that connects Panama with South America.
These officials also want to train Panamanian officials how “to screen migrants for humanitarian protection and deport those who don’t qualify.” It will help Panama deal with its own immigration issues.
The officials told CBS News the State Department would pay for the initiative with subsidized funds:
The novel initiative would be subsidized by U.S. State Department funds. The administration has notified Congress that it intends to divert the money to DHS to fund the effort, which will only begin once Panama and the U.S. finalize a formal agreement.The “goal of the program is to provide technical assistance and other capacity building so that they can basically create a more robust program to repatriate migrants who do not establish a legal basis to remain in Panama,” the senior U.S. official told CBS News.
The border patrol had over 2.47 million encounters in FY 2023, setting an all-time record.
FY 2024 started off with a bang. The border patrol had almost 250,000 encounters with migrants in October 2023. The border patrol also arrested 12 people on the FBI terror watchlist along the southern border. The border patrol on the northern border arrested one person on the list.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY