Q24N — The government of Panama will fine between US$1,000 and US$5,000 dollars “any foreign person” who enters the country illegally through the border with Colombia, a sanction that, however, will be adjusted to the conditions of “vulnerability” of the immigrants.
The fines are contemplated in Executive Decree 194, approved and published on Friday, October 25, 2024, in the State Gazette, due to the “alarming” way in which the entry of foreign citizens into the country has increased through the irregular migratory flow that crosses “through informal steps” the Darien jungle, the natural border with Colombia.
This situation, the norm indicates, constitutes a “clear violation of the officially authorized immigration control posts and, consequently, the configuration of an administrative immigration infraction.”
– Advertisement –
Decree 194 stipulates that any foreign person who enters the country “violating immigration checkpoints on land, air or sea” will be fined between one thousand and five thousand dollars, depending on the severity of the offense, “so that they will not be able to leave the country without first having paid this financial penalty.”
If they cannot do so due to lack of financial resources, “they will be deported” in accordance with the Immigration laws.
Read more: Agreement between the US and Panama reduces the passage of Ecuadorian and Colombian migrants through Darien
The law also provides that the penalty must be adjusted taking into consideration the “conditions of vulnerability” of migrants who are part of the irregular flow and who enter Panama through the Darien jungle through informal crossings.
They will be fined $300 for the first time, $600 for the second, $900 for the third and $1,000 for each of the following occasions, “for each foreign person who enters in this way through the Colombian-Panamanian border,” according to the decree.
It also states that this fine must be paid by the irregular foreign citizen “before leaving the national territory for Costa Rica.”
– Advertisement –
The decree recalls that through Operation Controlled Flow the Panamanian State “ensures the transit of irregular migrants from border to border.”
This, it adds, “by providing them with basic services and humanitarian aid, in an inter-institutional coordination that recognizes their human rights and protects them from their vulnerability to criminal networks.”
As of October 13, 274,444 irregular travelers have arrived in Panama through the jungle, 36.5% less than the 432,211 registered in the same period of 2023, on their way to North America in search of better living conditions, according to Panamanian statistics.
An agreement between Panama and the United States to repatriate irregular migrants crossing the Darien Gap has reduced the transit of Ecuadorian citizens through the jungle by 92% and that of Colombians by 65%, the U.S. Embassy in the Central American country said on October 22.
– Advertisement –
The agreement, signed on July 1, provides for the repatriation by air and based on Panamanian laws of irregular migrants who have arrived in Panama after crossing the jungle bordering Colombia, with the United States financing the flights.
Nearly 800 migrants have been deported on twenty flights financed by the U.S., the first of them on August 20, 2024.
Colombians and Ecuadorians are among the main nationalities of irregular migrants crossing the jungle bound for North America.
For several years now, the vast majority have been Venezuelans, although the deportation plan cannot be applied to them given the suspension, since the end of July, of diplomatic relations between Panama and Venezuela.
– Advertisement –
Source link
Rico
