{UAH} THE DARIEN GAP ROUTE HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY DESERTED

Once-overrun Darien Gap route to US virtually deserted amid Trump’s illegal migrant crackdowns, before-and-after photos show

By Emily Crane

Published April 10, 2025

Updated April 10, 2025, 8:15 a.m. ET

The treacherous Darien Gap migrant route to the United States has become a complete ghost town in the wake of the Trump administration’s fierce crackdown on illegal immigration, before-and-after photos show.

Recent images show the small Panamanian river port of Lajas Blancas — overrun with a crush of migrants just a year ago — now essentially empty.

Huge tents that were once packed with asylum-seeking families are now vacant, while a stretch of river where more than a thousand migrants would try to cross each day is also bare, according to the photosAD

Tents at a temporary camp on a court in Lajas Blancas, Panama, June 28, 2024.AP

The same court stands empty in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Sunday, April 6, 2025, where migrants used to camp out after crossing the Darien Gap on their journey north to the United States.AP

The boats that once pulled up to the side of the river in droves are now few and far between, and makeshift shops that sold food and water to migrants sit empty. 

Only a handful of migrants from Venezuela, Angola and Nigeria remained in the Lajas Blancas camp — sleeping on the dusty ground while being watched by cops, according to Associated Press reporters who recently visited the area.

“Doctors Without Borders, the Red Cross, no one comes here anymore,” said 33-year-old Venezuelan Hermanie Blanco, who arrived in Panama days after Trump took office.

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“It’s deserted.”

The emptiness comes after crossings through the 70-mile stretch of jungle — the only land bridge between South and Central America — surged to records in 2023 when more than 500,000 people attempted the grueling trek.

The number of migrants traversing the treacherous route plummeted by 40% last year as Panama’s right-wing President José Raúl Mulino vowed to crack down.

Migrants arrive to Lajas Blancas, Panama, after trekking across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the US, Sept. 26, 2024.AP

The empty riverbank where hundreds of migrants used to disembark daily, after crossing the Darien Gap on their journey north to the United States, in Lajas Blancas, Panama, Sunday, April 6, 2025.AP

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Now, in the few months since Trump took office, the route has essentially been eradicated.

“Effectively, the border with Darien is closed. The problem we had in Lajas Blancas eliminated,” Mulino declared last month.

With Post wires

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