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.
Recently snapped images show the small Panamanian river port of Lajas Blancas — overrun with a crush of migrants just a year ago — now essentially empty.
4 Tents at a temporary camp on the same court in Lajas Blancas, Panama, June 28, 2024. AP
4 A 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
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 and cross each day is also bare, according to the photos.
The desertion comes after crossings through the 70-mile stretch of jungle — the only land bridge between South and Central America — surged to record highs 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.
4 Migrants arrive to Lajas Blancas, Panama, after trekking across the Darien Gap from Colombia in hopes of reaching the U.S., Sept. 26, 2024. AP
4 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
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.
Before and after photos show Darien Gap migrant route to US a ghost town after Trump’s crackdown
