Some end up in Panama.
Panama remains a key country within Latin American migration routes, both for people in transit and for those who have decided to try and settle temporarily or permanently in the country. Panama continues to receive migrants expelled from the United States, mostly Venezuelans, but also including Colombians and Ecuadorians and other third-country nationals. Migrants expelled from the United States frequently arrive with no documentation, because ICE seizes it during the deportation process.
Our partner, the Franciscan Network for Migrants (RFM), provides food, healthcare, psychosocial support, direct humanitarian assistance, and spiritual accompaniment to people in especially vulnerable situations. They currently serve about 600 meals each month to migrant families passing through at Pasa Canoas, one of the main migration transit points located on the border between Panama and Costa Rica. Paso Canoas also offers hygiene kits, clothing, and medical assistance.
Our partners also serve longer-term residents at the Medalla Milagrosa shelter, located in David, Panama. The shelter is designed to provide respite to families who are unable to travel, often for health reasons, but also because the United States seized their travel documents. The shelter is currently at capacity, with 32 residents. They also provide services, such as food, and psychosocial and legal support, to the larger community of migrants who are resettling in the David area.
Some migrants end up at southern edge of Panama, stopping at the roadless and lawless Darien jungle. Our partners estimate that up to 200 people each week arrive at the Darien, going south. A few are still traveling north. In this context the Panamanian government reopened its own reception center to provide temporary shelter. Many third-country migrants on U.S. deportation flights sent to Panama also end up at the San Vicente reception center. The government places most of them on boats or planes, paid for by the United States, to remove them from the country as quickly as possible. Our partners are providing hygiene kits, clothing, and spiritual accompaniment outside the San Vicente Center for those who have refused immediate deportation.
RFM is also helping to open, in collaboration with the Jesuits, the Claretians, and the Apostolic Vicariate of Darien, a new shelter at Agua Fria, near San Vicente. The Agua Fria shelter is modeled on the Medalla Milagrosa shelter that Quixote Center has supported since its inception, and we are now providing support to the Agua Fria shelter. Similar to Medalla Milagrosa, the residents are unable to travel, either for health reasons, or because they no longer have travel documents, or because their country of origin will not accept them.
Quixote Center is renewing our support for this lifesaving work. Our funds:
- Keep the lights, cooking gas, and internet working at Medalla Milagrosa;
- Purchase hygiene kits and food at Paso Canoas and Agua Fria;
- Train volunteers as human rights observers;
- Provide medications and food bags for Medalla Milagrosa residents and extended community;
- Assist with local travel expenses for volunteers, especially to the Darien;
- Enable response to emergencies, such as a stranded boat or an unexpected influx of migrants.
U.S. policies play an outsized role in determining the flow of migrants in the rest of the hemisphere. Quixote Center partners respond to migrants stranded between borders with dignity and hospitality, aiding them in figuring out what they will do next. Our advocacy and education work helps our constituencies in the United States to understand the dynamic and to take action to impact it. We encourage you to have a look at our Between Borders page, to learn about the stories of some impacted individuals.
We cannot do this work without your support. Thank you.
Here is a video from the RFM Medalla Milagrosa shelter, after the October 9th earthquake:
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