The treacherous Darien Gap migrant route to the United States has become a complete ghost town in the wake of the Trump administration’s fierce crackdown on illegal immigration, before-and-after-photos show.
Recently snapped images show the small Panamanian river port of Lajas Blancas — overrun with a crush of migrants just a year ago — now essentially empty.
Huge tents that were once packed with asylum-seeking families are now vacant, while a stretch of river where more than a thousand migrants would try and cross each day is also bare, according to the photos.
The boats that once pulled up to the side of the river in droves are now few and far between, and makeshift shops that sold off food and water to migrants sit empty.
Only a handful of migrants from Venezuela, Angola and Nigeria remained in the Lajas Blancas camp – sleeping on the dusty ground while being watched by cops, according to Associated Press reporters who recently visited the area.
“Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, no one comes here anymore,” 33-year-old Venezuelan Hermanie Blanco, who arrived in Panama days after Trump took office, said.
“It’s deserted.”
The desertion comes after crossings through the 70-mile stretch of jungle — the only land bridge between South and Central America — surged to record highs in 2023 when more than 500,000 people attempted the grueling trek.
The number of migrants traversing the treacherous route plummeted by 40% last year as Panama’s right-wing President José Raúl Mulino vowed to crack down.
Now, in the few months since Trump took office, the route has essentially been eradicated.
“Effectively, the border with Darien is closed. The problem we had in Lajas Blancas eliminated,” Mulino declared last month.
With Post wires
