Activity at a deadly jungle choke point in Central America where hundreds of thousands of migrants bound for the U.S. routinely imperiled themselves has slowed to merely a trickle under President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The Darien Gap is an expanse of dense rainforest, steep ravines and swamps that regularly endures extreme rainfall, flash-floods and landslides. It is often considered the most dangerous leg of any migrant’s journey from South to Central America.
Over 520,000 migrants crossed through the dangerous jungle crossing heading to America in 2023; In 2024 the crossings dipped to around 300,000.
There were 55 migrant deaths in the gap last year, and 180 children abandoned and left for dead were rescued, local authorities claimed. There were 31,000 Darien Gap crossings in June of 2024.
But the dangerous crossings there have all but stopped, and according to a Spanish language news report, just 10 migrants crossed through the Darien Gap this June – something the White House says is cause for celebration.
According to data from Panamanian authorities, under 3,000 migrants have attempted the Darien Gap crossings in 2025.
The landscape is so hostile there are no roads through it, making it the only gap in the Pan-American highway which otherwise runs uninterrupted from Alaska to Argentina.
Located at a critical passage between Panama and Colombia, millions of migrants have traversed the treacherous jungle on their journey to enter the U.S. It’s full of venomous creatures, crocodiles, disease-carrying mosquitos and more.
Dangerous migrant crossings at the Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia have all but stopped due to President Donald Trump’s immigration and border security agenda
Migrants camp at the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blancas, in the jungle province of Darien, Panama, on June 28, 2024
A stray dog walks in an empty migrant reception center that used to receive hundreds of people every day after they crossed the Darien Gap on their journey north to the United States, in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Sunday, April 6, 2025
‘Word of the United States’ secure border has spread so far around the world, that migrants aren’t even willing to make the dangerous journey to get here because they know they’ll be turned away,’ White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Daily Mail in a statement.
‘For the last two months, Border Patrol released zero illegal aliens into the United States,’ Jackson added. ‘That’s a stat known all the way from here to the Darien Gap.’
The shutdown of the passageway has impacted local economies dependent on migrants.
Bajo Chiquito, a small indigenous village of 400 residents deep in the Panama jungle that is the first stop for travelers after heading through the gap, has seen its business grind to a halt since Trump implemented his sweeping border policies.
‘On a normal day I attended at least 100 people, even more,’ Jason Mosquera, 25, a food vendor reminisced to Spanish outlet EFE. ‘Now I only attend ten people a day, if anything, six people. It has dropped a lot.’
His customers these days are typically from the small village or the occasional traveler. Mosquera shared that business from passing through migrants has dried up.
Haitian migrants wade across a river near Bajo Chiquito, Panama, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia on their way north to the United States, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024
Migrants heading north arrive by boat to Lajas Blancas, Darien province, Panama, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia
The riverbank where hundreds of migrants used to disembark daily is no clean and devoid of travelers
The vast majority of those passing through the Darien Gap – almost 2,300 – did so in January, many getting through before Trump was inaugurated and Biden was still in power.
Esmeralda Dumasá, a leader in Bajo Chiquito, told EFE that the town is returning to ‘normalcy’ after the massive migrant waves.
Children playing in the street once more is evidence of this return to ‘how it was a few years ago.’
The standstill in the Darien Gap comes as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) celebrated record-breaking months.
June was the lowest month of illegal crossings ever at the U.S.-Mexico border, the agency announced this week.
Clothing and garbage litter the trail where migrants have been trekking across the Darien Gap from Colombia to Panama in hopes of eventually reaching the United States, on May 10, 2023
A migrant reception center that normally received hundreds of people every day after they crossed the Darien Gap on their journey north to the United States, stands empty in Lajas Blancas, Panama, April 6, 2025.
There were 6,072 migrants who crossed the border – serious drop from the tens of thousands of migrants who regularly crossed into the U.S. on a daily average.
Under Biden, there were routinely 6,000 illegal crossings in a single day.
None of the migrants who illegally crossed were released into the U.S., CBP touted in a recent press release.
CBP released nearly 28,000 migrants into the U.S. last June after they illegally crossed the border.
‘Border crossings at their lowest levels in history last week and NPR defunded. Two big wins!’ VP JD Vance posted on Thursday.
