PANAMA CITY — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio viewed a deportation flight carrying 43 migrants before it took off from Panama on Monday as President Donald Trump’s administration prioritizes .
On his second and final day in Panama City on a five-nation trip to Central America, and Chinese influence to : immigration.
The flight was carrying 32 men and 11 women back to Colombia after they had crossed the Darien Gap and were stopped in Panama. Some of the migrants filed into the plane before Rubio arrived. He viewed the plane and then left the tarmac to give comments in a nearby building. It’s unusual for a secretary of state to personally witness such a law enforcement operation, especially in front of cameras.
The State Department said that such deportations send a strong message of deterrence and that the U.S. has provided Panama with financial assistance to the tune of almost $2.7 million in flights and tickets.
“Mass migration is one of the great tragedies in the modern era,” Rubio said. “It impacts countries throughout the world. We recognize that many of the people who seek mass migration are often victims and victimized along the way, and it’s not good for anyone.”
Monday’s flight came as Trump has been threatening action against nations that will not accept deportation flights of their nationals from the United States, and he briefly hit Colombia with penalties last week for . Panama has been more cooperative and has allowed flights of third-country deportees to land and sent migrants back before they reach the United States.
Panamanian President reaffirmed that position and agreed Sunday to withdraw from and infrastructure initiative after Rubio warned him to reduce China’s role in or face American retaliation.
Last week, Mulino said Panama had carried out 59 deportation flights carrying nearly 2,000 migrants since signing an agreement with the U.S. for financial support when he entered office last July. The majority of those flown home have been Colombians, followed by Ecuadorians.
Panama said last month that the number of migrants crossing the Darien Gap from Colombia had decreased more than 90% in January compared with the same month a year earlier. The Mulino administration attributes the drop to efforts undertaken to funnel migrants through limited entry points and up patrols in the jungle-clad Darien.
Mulino said Sunday that he had offered Rubio access to an airstrip in the Darien to serve as a bridge for the U.S. to deport migrants from other countries.
But Venezuelans have by far been the majority of migrants crossing the Darien in recent years, and Venezuela is not accepting flights from Panama, either.
From Panama, Rubio travels to El Salvador, where migration will again be a top agenda item. He will also go to Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.
Rubio’s trip comes amid a sweeping and stop-work orders that have shut down U.S.-funded programs targeting illegal migration and crime in Central American countries. The State Department said Sunday that Rubio had approved waivers for certain critical programs in countries he is visiting, but details of those were not immediately available.
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