Panama to start deporting migrants from Darien Gap within months

FILE PHOTO: A member of the Panamanian security forces attends the launching ceremony of operation Choco at Nicanor Air Base, after the Panamanian government deployed on Friday at its border with Colombia to fight organized crime and human smuggling linked to the growing flow of migrants crossing the dangerous jungle of the Darien Gap, Panama June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Aris Martinez/File Photo

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -Panama's government expects to start deportation flights for migrants who crossed the country's dangerous Darien jungle in two to three months, the country's chief of migration Roger Mojica said Friday.

The flights will be paid by the United States under a recent agreement that the two countries closed earlier this month.