Haitian migrants in Colombia weigh journey to U.S. after deportations

FILE PHOTO: Migrants gather next to stores as they wait to cross into Panama to continue their journey toward the U.S., in Necocli, Colombia September 9, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Esquivel NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES/File Photo

NECOCLI, Colombia (Reuters) - Many Haitian migrants heading north through Colombia are weighing whether to continue their journey to the United States, after more than a thousand were deported from the U.S.-Mexico border this past week.

Some 16,000 migrants are stuck in the northern Colombian beach town of Necocli, awaiting their turn on limited boat transport toward the jungles of the Darien Gap in Panama, where smugglers guide groups through the treacherous region.