illegal immigration
New Central American President Following Through On Pledge To Cut Illegal Migration To US
![](https://www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/tvrd-us-mexico-border-illegal-immigration-image-2024-07-19.jpg)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The Panamanian government is touting progress on efforts to reduce illegal migration through the Darien Gap, a dense jungle region that has long served as a gateway point for South American migrants making their way to the United States.
The National Border Service, Panama’s version of the U.S. Border Patrol, reported that 11,363 migrants had crossed into the country from Colombia since July 1, when President Jose Raul Mulino first entered office, according to The Associated Press. That number marks roughly 9,000 fewer crossings compared to the same time period last year.
Jorge Gobea, the National Border Service’s director general, credited the downturn in migration numbers to the construction of around three miles of barbed wire on five different trails frequently used by migrants passing through the Darien Gap, according to the AP. Gobea also pointed to the Panama government’s declaration of upcoming deportation plans and heavy rains as the reasons for the drop off in migration numbers.
The early data comes as good news for Mulino, who was elected earlier this year on a pledge to reduce illegal immigration through his country and immediately set out on a plan
Mulino won Panama’s presidential election, beating his closest rival by nearly ten percentage points, riding a wave of voter discontent over the nation’s sluggish economic growth and an endorsement from the still-popular former president. The 65-year-old lawyer also campaigned on a pledge to crack down on the illegal immigration that runs through the Darien Gap.
The Darien Gap — a vast jungle region that stretches between Colombia and southern Panama — has proven to be a paramount transit area for illegal migrants headed for the U.S.-Mexico border. Over half a million migrants crossed the Darien Gap on their northward journey to the U.S. in 2023, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Over 212,000 migrants entered Panama after crossing through the Darien Gap so far this year, according to the AP. The vast majority of them have been Venezuelan nationals, while others include Colombians, Ecuadorians and Chinese, among other foreign nationals.
“The border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, moved to Panama,” the then-candidate said on the campaign trail. “We’re going to close the Darien and we’re going to repatriate all these people.”
Mulino’s position on illegal immigration marks a major shift from the previous administration, which largely sought to assist migrants journey to the Costa Rican border, in lieu of blocking them and returning them to their home country.
On July 1, the day Mulino was sworn into office, his government signed a deal with the Biden administration aiming to control the level of migration.
The Memorandum of Understanding between the two governments calls for a deployment of American screening officers to assist Panama officials to deport migrants crossing the Darien Gap, according to the plan. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials with asylum screening experience will be deployed to Panama to help their government process migrants, and the U.S. will provide funds to beef up the country’s deportation capabilities.
While the migration through the Darien Gap still remains close to what was witnessed last year, U.S. officials have yet to fully implement their bilateral agreement, leaving room for more progress moving forward.
Efforts to control the migration routes running through the Darien Gap would have a major impact on U.S. immigration enforcement officials, who continue to deal with the ongoing border crisis. More than 7 million migrants have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally since President Joe Biden entered office, according to the latest data from Customs and Border Protection.
Crime
Venezuelan Migrant Says She’d ‘Return’ To Country After Living In Housing Taken Over By Venezuelan Gang
![](https://www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/tvrd-dc-venezuelan-gangs-take-over-appartments-denver-image-2024-09-07.jpg)
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Hailey Gomez
A Venezuelan immigrant living in migrant housing in Aurora, Colorado, appeared to fight back tears while speaking to independent reporter Nick Shirley, saying she would return to her country after living in the U.S.
This week, the city of Aurora faced major pushback from Republicans after footage surfaced online of armed men inside an apartment complex in late August. Shirley was seen visiting various migrant housing units before stopping at the viral location to interview residents where the armed men had been spotted.
Shirley spoke with a Venezuelan woman who showed him the poor living conditions her family endures, stating she pays $1,200 per month for the apartment. The migrant stated that the electricity and hot water in her apartment weren’t working, telling Shirley that the landlord hadn’t accepted any payment for the “past couple of months.”
“Does your father still have to pay rent?” Shirley asked as they walked around her father’s apartment.
“The owner is no longer receiving any kind of payment, because he is also taking all this, that the gangs and the mafia are taking advantage of all of this to get us out as if we were dogs and it’s not fair,” the migrant stated, according to a translation.
Shirley asked if gangs had been charging people, to which the migrant replied, “no.” The independent reporter then asked if her life in the U.S. was what she expected after crossing the border.
WATCH:
“No, never. I would have stayed in my country. They say that here everything is different, the laws, everyone gets a good job, you get ahead, you can save money to take back to your country,” the migrant stated. “But not everything is as they say, the American dream is simply just a dream. When you get here you wake up, it’s not like they say.”
Shirley then pressed the migrant, asking in Spanish if she would take a “flight or opportunity to go back” to her home country.
“With all the love in the world I would return to my country,” the migrant said.
Republican lawmakers on Friday sent a letter criticizing the Biden-Harris administration’s “open border policies” and local “sanctuary” policies over the reported presence of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which allegedly terrorized several apartment buildings in Aurora.
Reportedly beginning as a prison gang in 2014 within the northern Venezuelan state of Aragua, Tren de Aragua has grown into one of Venezuela’s largest criminal organizations. With around 5,000 members and stretching internationally across Latin America and the U.S., the gang has allegedly been connected to several high-profile crimes within the U.S., including the kidnapping and strangling of a Florida man last year.
This week, the Aurora Police Department announced the arrest of two confirmed Tren de Aragua gang members, Jhonnarty Dejesus Pacheco-Chirinos and Jhonardy Jose Pacheco-Chirinos, following a July 28 shooting that left two men hospitalized with serious injuries.
illegal immigration
Illegal immigrants crossing from Canada into USA in record numbers
![](https://www.todayville.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/tvrd-cs-illegal-immigrants-crossing-canada-us-border-champlain-ny-image-2024-09-02.jpg)
Illegal border crossers from Canada captured near Champlain, NY – US Border Patrol
From The Center Square
By
Apprehensions in 10 months surpass previous 13 fiscal years combined
The busiest U.S. Customs and Border Protection sector at the northern border continues to break records in apprehensions with foreign nationals coming from 85 countries to Canada to illegally enter the U.S.
In less than 10 months, Swanton Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended 15,000 foreign nationals from 85 countries who all illegally entered the U.S. through Canada, the greatest volume reported in this time period in recorded history.
By contrast, the Swanton Sector apprehended 365 illegal border crossers in all of fiscal 2021, according to CBP data.
The total number apprehended this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, exceeds apprehensions Border Patrol agents made in 13 fiscal years combined (fiscal 2011 through fiscal 2023), Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said.
The 15,000 illegal border crossers is equivalent to 15 U.S. Army battalions.
Foreign nationals flew from 85 countries to eventually reach Canada and then make their way to the U.S. border, where they illegally entered the Swanton Sector. The sector includes all of Vermont, six upstate New York counties, and three New Hampshire counties.
Illegal entry by car in Alburgh, Vermont.
It spans 295 miles of international boundary with the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and is the first international land boundary east of the Great Lakes.
In fiscal 2023, Swanton Sector Border Patrol agents broke previous records by apprehending the greatest number of illegal border crossers in history of more than 6,700 foreign nationals from 76 countries, The Center Square exclusively reported.
In just one year, that number tripled and countries of origin increased to 85.
Foreign nationals illegally entering the U.S. from Canada in the Swanton Sector alone are citizens of Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungry, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Liberia, Lithuania, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Taiwan, Togo, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zimbabwe, according to Swanton Sector data.
![TCS border crisis northern border sqanton sector](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=150%2C107 150w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=200%2C143 200w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=225%2C161 225w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=300%2C214 300w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=400%2C286 400w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=540%2C386 540w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=640%2C457 640w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=750%2C536 750w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=990%2C707 990w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=1035%2C739 1035w, https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/thecentersquare.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b8/eb8b6bb4-6891-11ef-aff7-7f54866cf622/66d4ba11e9184.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C857 1200w)
A border patrol agent at the northern border in the Swanton sector
The Biden-Harris administration continues to maintain U.S. borders are secure and numbers are down compared to the Trump administration, a claim fact-checked as false by The Center Square.
In one Derby, Vermont, local news report, residents described how “at all hours of the day,” illegal foreign nationals cross their backyards having come from Canada to illegally enter the U.S. They’ve shared similar experiences on a much smaller scale as those living in rural border counties of Texas, The Center Square has reported. In Texas, illegal border crossers total in the millions under the Biden-Harris administration, prompting 55 Texas counties to declare an invasion and 60 to issue disaster declarations citing the border crisis.
Like those at the southwest border, those at the northern border describe how home surveillance video captures foreign nationals trespassing on private property, next to their homes, in the middle of the night to be picked up by someone nearby. Border Patrol agents have warned residents “not to interfere because they may have weapons. They want to get through, they’re going to have nobody stopping them,” WCAX 3 News reported.
They are describing gotaways, those who illegally enter between ports of entry, don’t make asylum or immigration claims, and intentionally seek to evade capture. Many have criminal records and are armed and dangerous, authorities have told The Center Square. They total at least two million nationwide since fiscal 2021, the greatest number in recorded history, The Center Square first reported.
While the Swanton Sector has borne the brunt, the entire northern border has reported record illegal entries and apprehensions, totaling 162,865 so far this fiscal year. That’s after the greatest number of nearly 190,000 was apprehended at the northern border in U.S. history in fiscal 2023, according to CBP data.
Illegal entries continue to skyrocket at the northern border as both U.S. and Canadian officials have expressed alarm about terrorist threats, The Center Square reported.
Nearly 1,100 known or suspected terrorists attempting to enter the U.S. from Canada were apprehended at the northern border since fiscal 2021 by CBP and Border Patrol agents. Nationwide, the total number of KSTs apprehended since fiscal 2021 is over 1,700, the highest on record, The Center Square first reported.
Despite some Canadian officials telling The Center Square, “The Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world,” members of Congress, U.S. officials and some Canadian officials don’t agree.
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