Number of Migrants Crossing Darién Gap Headed to the U.S. Plummets After Trump Election

The number of illegal U.S.-bound migrants crossing through the dangerous Darién Gap jungle trail fell by half during the month of November, Panama’s Migrant Authority revealed this week.

According to the latest statistical information released by the Panamanian authority, 11,144 migrants passed through the Darién Gap in November — a 51.37-percent drop from October’s 22,914. November was the month with the lowest number of migrants passing through the jungle trail so far in 2024.

The Darién Gap is a dangerous 30-mile-wide, 100-mile-long jungle trail shared between Panama and Colombia and the only land bridge that connects South and Central America. In recent years, a growing number of Venezuelans fleeing the socialist Maduro regime, as well as nationals from other South American, African, and Asian nations, have passed through the Darién Gap towards the U.S. southern border.

Panamanian authorities logged a significantly high number of thousands of U.S.-bound illegal Chinese migrants passing through the jungle trail in the first months of 2024. Many of the Chinese migrants reportedly hired the services of now-dismantled “VIP” route providers that offered “safer” and quicker routes through the jungle trail.

As of November, Venezuelans still amply lead the number of Darién migrant crossings, totaling nearly 80 percent of all of November’s registered crossings, followed by Colombian, Ecuadorian, Chinese, and Haitian national.

Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), told Newsweek that the 2024 U.S. presidential election and President-elect Donald Trump’s victory could have influenced migrants to abstain from taking the journey to the United States.

“The November 5 election of a virulently anti-immigrant president in the United States may also be causing would-be migrants to change their plans, for now, until they have better information about what may await them,” Isacson said.

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