Migration to Darién Gap is halted after Colombia arrests boat captains

Migration into the United States through the dangerous jungle passage known as the Darién Gap has been halted, at least temporarily, following the arrest of two boat captains who work for companies that play a vital role in transporting migrants into the jungle.

According to the mayor of Necoclí, boat companies have suspended the crossing of migrants from two towns in northern Colombia, Necoclí and Turbo, to the entrance of the Darién Forest, leaving about 3,000 migrants stranded in those communities.

Colombian law enforcement action in the region will certainly be closely watched by U.S. officials: The Biden administration has been putting pressure on Colombia for months to try harder to prevent people from using the Darién as a path to the United States.

The boat route is the main route to the Darién Gap, a strip of land connecting South and North America that was once rarely crossed, but in recent years has become one of the most important and busiest migration routes in the hemisphere.

Authorities at the end of the route in Panama say nearly a million people have crossed the Darién since 2021, helping to fuel an immigration crisis in the United States.

The Colombian navy last week seized two boats from the two companies, Katamaranes and Caribe, which transported a total of 151 migrants from Necoclí to the jungle, according to the Colombian prosecutor’s office.

Officials determined that the migrants were being transported illegally, arrested the two boat captains and took control of both boats.

The arrests mark a major change in strategy by Colombian authorities, who for months have allowed boat operators to openly ferry migrants from Necoclí across the Gulf of Urabá to the towns of Acandí and Capurganá, where people venture into the jungle.

In an interview on Wednesday, Necoclí Mayor Guillermo Cardona said the boat companies, which operate large fleets and have multiple captains, had halted their activities in recent days “as a form of protest” against the arrests.

Boat operators have become key players in a multimillion-dollar migration business that has blossomed in northern Colombia.

In September, The New York Times reported that this company was run by local politicians and economic leaders, including Katamaranes’ manager, who was a mayoral candidate in Necoclí at the time. (The manager did not win and was not among those arrested.)

U.S. officials have personally asked Colombian officials since at least October to investigate the boat operators.

In a recent interview, a leading Colombian prosecutor, Hugo Tovar, said his office was working “hand in hand” with the United States on human trafficking through Colombia and the Darien. Two U.S. agencies, Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, provided training and shared information to assist with investigations, he added.

Necoclí is a seaside resort with limited resources and infrastructure, and has been overwhelmed by migrants in recent years.

It is unclear how long the boat companies will cease operations. Hundreds of migrants have been arriving a day in recent months, and if the protest continues, the number of people stranded in tents on the city’s beaches is likely to increase rapidly, pushing water and sanitation facilities beyond their breaking points.

This could put pressure on the Colombian government to ease any future arrests of boat operators, as the government has limited capacity to provide assistance to large numbers of people who could become stuck at the northern border.

Still, Mr. Tovar said his office remained committed to investigating human trafficking, calling it “a hemisphere-wide issue.”

Mr. Cardona, the mayor, said he was appealing to the national government for help for the hundreds of migrants who now have nowhere to go. “This is an SOS,” he said.

Immigration through the Darien has proven to be a huge challenge for the Biden administration, especially ahead of the 2024 presidential race.

President Biden and his almost certain Republican rival Donald J. Trump are both scheduled to appear Thursday in different parts of Texas near the southern border.

In 2021, just over 130,000 people passed through the jungles of Darién on their way to the United States. In 2022 there were almost 250,000. More than 500,000 people crossed the Darién last year, setting a record number of arrivals at the U.S. border.

Mr. Biden has tried to deter this flow by expanding legal migration routes and stepping up deportation efforts at the border.

But these measures have had only a limited effect.

On February 28, Panama authorities said that more than 72,000 people had crossed through Darien this year – a 35 percent increase over the number of people crossing the border in the first two months of last year.

The largest number of migrants came from Venezuela, where activists’ hopes that the authoritarian government would allow democratic elections this year have faded in recent months. The second most came from Ecuador, where the poor security situation has worsened this year. The next three major countries of origin are Haiti, Colombia and China.