One hundred thirty-five. That is how many irregular crossings the International Organization for Migration (IOM) counted in Panama’s Darién Gap in the first four months of this year, a 95% drop from the same stretch of 2025. In 2023, more than half a million people walked through that jungle.
Newsweek reported it last week. I haven’t seen anyone else pick it up.
I spent more than 24 years in immigration enforcement, and for most of them I heard the same thing from the other side of the argument. People will come no matter what you do. Build a wall, they’ll find a tunnel. Add agents, they’ll find a new route. We were told the only real choice was how kindly to treat them when they arrived.
The Darién just answered that.
Let me tell you what that jungle was, because it was never what the cameras showed. It was a toll road, and the Clan del Golfo ran it. Nobody crossed without paying them. Colombia’s Defense Ministry estimated their take at about $125 a head, totaling roughly $57 million in the first 10 months of 2023. Human Rights Watch said $68 million. The most conservative estimate I found, from InSight Crime, was still north of $17 million for the transport packages alone. Pick w...