Panama will fine migrants who enter the country irregularly with up to US$5,000

( Spanish) – Panama will fine migrants who enter the country irregularly up to US$5,000, the country’s president José Raúl Mulino reported at a press conference on Thursday.

“Any person who enters the country, a foreigner, violating land, air or sea immigration control posts, will be fined an amount ranging between US$1,000 and US$5,000, depending on the severity of the infraction,” said the president.

The announcement comes almost a week after an Executive Decree was published in the Official Gazette establishing that fined people will not be able to leave the country “without first having canceled the sanction” and that those who do not have the necessary resources will be deported.

In the case of migrants who enter from Colombia through the Darién jungle as part of the “irregular flow” and through “informal steps,” the decree indicates that their “special conditions of vulnerability” will be taken into consideration so that the sanction is “ adjusted so that it is accessible and they can pay it before leaving the national territory.”

The decree is part of the measures implemented by the Mulino Government to reduce the flow of undocumented migrants who cross the jungle from South America in search of reaching the United States through Central America.

The Mulino and Joe Biden governments have signed an agreement that facilitates the deportation of undocumented immigrants from Panama by air. As of Thursday, more than 20 flights had been made as part of the agreement, most to Colombia.

Only between January and October of this year, at least 285,431 people had entered Panamanian territory irregularly, which represents a reduction of 171,753 migrants, or 38%, compared to the same period in 2023, according to Panama Migration figures. .

The vast majority of migrants, almost 197,000, come from Venezuela, Mulino indicated in his press conference on Thursday.