PARA45
AH ambassador
Biden-funded deportation flights from ‘migrant superhighway’ to US are voluntary.
The Biden administration-funded deportation flights, which were supposed to help Panama deport illegal migrants caught crossing the treacherous Darien Gap on their way to the US, are voluntary, Panama’s President said Thursday.
Under a deal signed earlier this month, the US 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 — which is known as a “superhighway” for asylum-seekers hoping to make it to America.
However, weeks later, Mulino revealed that migrants must agree to be deported — and called it a “United States problem.”
“This is a United States problem that we are managing. People don’t want to live here in Panama, they want to go to the United States,” Mulino said, adding that those who choose to forgo the flights will “go [to the US].
“I can’t arrest them, we can’t forcibly repatriate them,” he said.