Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency as it struggles to cope with the influx of migrants passing through the tropical paradise. This year, more than a quarter of a million asylum seekers will cross the treacherous Darien Gap to reach the US.
President Rodrigo Chaves said Tuesday he has ordered officials to declare a state of emergency as the number of migrants passing through the small Central American country after crossing through the jungles from South to Central America rose sharply, including in 2023 reached 386,000.
“The people who are arriving are traveling through Costa Rica and trying to get to the United States. In fact… I have instructed the Ministry of Security to take a strong stand against anyone who sees Costa Rica’s friendliness as weakness,” Chaves said at a news conference. , referring to recent riots by migrants crossing the country.
So far in September, more than 60,000 people have passed through the Costa Rican border town of Paso Canoas, shared with Panama, where fewer than 20,000 people live.
In August, a record number of more than 84,490 people entered Costa Rica through its southern border with Panama – a 55 percent increase from July.
Costa Rica has declared a state of emergency as it struggles to cope with the influx of migrants passing through the tropical paradise. Venezuelan migrants are seen in San Jose
The Darien Gap is lawless and deadly, with armed and violent gangs robbing and raping desperate travelers. This map shows the journey that many migrants make
A Venezuelan migrant child stays in a makeshift tent in the Colombian port city of Turbo, near the Darien Gap
While the migrants travel alone through Costa Rica, they often spend weeks or months in transit countries, such as the tourist resort, while they earn money to continue their journey. These migrants have filled refugee camps in the country, but also in other countries such as Panama and Mexico.
Chaves said he will allow the migrants to travel to the north of the country and transport them on buses, but “disrespect towards the authorities will not be allowed,” according to The Tico Times.
The presence of migrants in Costa Rica has increased as record numbers of asylum seekers cross the dangerous 575,000-hectare jungle known as the Darien Gap, which connects Colombia and Panama and serves as a route to the US for desperate migrants.
The perilous trek through the jungle has been reduced from over a week to just two days for the fittest hikers, through a network of guides, established camps and rudimentary route markers that start in the Necocli, on the Colombian side of the gorge.
Venezuelan migrants in Huehuetoca say the Darien operation appears to be dominated by Colombian paramilitary groups, which funnel some of their proceeds to Panama’s autonomous indigenous groups.
President Chaves said the migrants passing through Costa Rica come from all over the world, including China, Yemen, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador and Bangladesh. Most, however, are Venezuelans who say they are fleeing violence, hunger and repression under the socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro.
The United Nations has said that so far this year, more than 330,000 people have crossed the Darien Gap on their journey to North America. By comparison, fewer than 250,000 migrants crossed the border in all of 2022.
If the pace remains high, as many as 400,000 people are expected to bridge the gap by the end of the year.
The Chaves of Costa Rica will visit Panama in early October to hold discussions on the migrant crisis.
A Panamanian Senafront soldier patrols the lawless jungle where violent and armed gangs target desperate travelers on their journey to the US.
While the migrants travel alone through Costa Rica, they often spend weeks or months in transit countries while they earn money to continue their journey. These migrants have filled refugee camps in Costa Rica, but also in other camps such as Panama (photo)
Last month, Panama’s government said it would launch a new campaign to stem the flow of migrants through the Darien Gap.
“Despite all efforts, meetings with other concerned countries have not succeeded in stopping the flow of migrants,” Panamanian Security Minister Juan Manuel Pino said.
Officials said the mass movement of migrants through the gorge – now between 2,500 and 3,000 a day – has polluted and damaged the jungle, exposing people to risks and rights abuses.
Moreover, the migrants are preyed upon at almost every step by corrupt officials, gangs, thieves and sexual abusers. At least half a dozen migrants in Huehuetoca, Mexico, described seeing the same dead bodies — a woman and her newborn baby, a young couple, an older, heavyset man — decomposing along the jungle trail in Darien.
Of the 248,000 migrants who traveled through the jungle last year, 40,438 were minors, UNICEF data shows.
The agency also noted that more than 4,800 children and adolescents trekked through the dangerous rainforest in January, a sevenfold increase compared to the same period a year ago.
Most migrants currently crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have traveled across Central America to get there
At least 36 people died in the Darien Gap in 2022, according to the International Migration Organization.
Most migrants currently crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have traveled across Central America to get there. Many end up in progressive sanctuary cities like Chicago and New York City, where Republican governors are bused north fed up with what they say is an open-arms policy by Democrats.
Manhattan’s historic The Roosevelt Hotel — dubbed “the new Ellis Island” by one city official — has become the migrant registration point and currently houses 3,000 asylum seekers.
In the small border town of Eagle Pass, the Democratic mayor has declared a state of emergency because 100,000 people are believed to have waded through the Rio Grande last week.
About two million migrants are believed to have crossed the US southern border in 2023, with many citing Biden’s lax policies as the reason. Another 500,000 could cross by the end of the year.
Last week, Biden announced plans to quickly process more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants who have crossed the border since July 31, to provide some relief from the growing numbers facing underfunded border officials.
The number of migrants has risen steadily since May 2023, when Title 42 expired. The Trump-era rule was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic and allowed officials to turn away en masse those crossing the border, citing public health risks.
This has led to more than double the number of migrants crossing the border every day. An average of 8,600 border crossings were recorded this weekend, up from 3,500, which was the average before the expiration of Title 42.