From over half a million crossings in 2023, the Darién passage has fallen to single digits per month in 2026, prompting MSF to withdraw and Panama to begin environmental recovery
Migrant crossings through the Darien Gap jungle between Colombia and Panama dropped from 520,000 in 2023 and 302,203 in 2024 to effectively zero by mid-2025, following US-Panama enforcement cooperation, Panama's closure of migration camps, and the collapse in northbound demand after US asylum restrictions took effect; the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the US refugee admissions pause in March 2026