Defining Away Illegal Immigration: Biden Administration Announces Trilateral Deal with Panama and Colombia to Stop Darien Gap Migration

Defining Away Illegal Immigration:

The Biden administration has announced an agreement with Panama and Colombia to reduce illegal migration through the dangerous Darien Gap. It’s a jungle chokepoint that illegal migrants headed for the U.S. from South America and beyond have to traverse, often at the cost of their lives. (See the video of a panel discussion I hosted on the subject featuring a local Indian leader, war correspondent Michael Yon, and Representative Tom Tiffany [R., Wis.] who personally visited the area.)

You’ll not be surprised that traffic through the Darien has ballooned in response to Biden’s catch-and-release policies at the border. You also won’t be surprised that the Biden administration response is not to change the policies that serve as a magnet to illegal immigration, but to try to define away the problem by making the migration “legal.”

The second of the “ambitious goals” of the new agreement is: “Open new lawful and flexible pathways for tens of thousands of migrants and refugees as an alternative to irregular migration.” In other words, come up with “legal” ways to admit the prospective illegal border-jumpers.

But if genuinely legal means were available, they’d already be using them. Instead, this signals an expansion of what Andy McCarthy aptly calls “Biden’s Immigration ‘Parole’ Scam.”

But the unlawful use of parole is just the tool. The policy served by that tool is one of de facto unlimited immigration. This administration believes that statutory limits on immigration are illegitimate, and it will undermine those limits if there are more people who want to come here than can be legally admitted. As Byron York put it a few months ago, “Republicans want policies that will stop, or at least dramatically reduce, the flow. Democrats want policies that will accommodate the flow.” —>READ MORE HERE

Biden administration announces trilateral deal with Panama and Colombia to stop Darien Gap migration:

Last year, a record nearly 250,000 migrants, mostly Venezuelans, used the Darien route

The Biden administration announced a trilateral campaign with the United States, Panama and Colombia Tuesday that will aim to halt illegal migration through the Darien Gap, an area of dense jungle where tens of thousands of migrants have already crossed this year.

In a joint statement, the three countries said they will launch a 60-day campaign to try and curb the flow of migrants that reached nearly 90,000 in just the first three months of this year.

“Recognizing our shared interest and responsibility to prevent the risk to human life, disrupt transnational criminal organizations, and preserve the vital rainforest, the governments of Panamá, Colombia, and the United States intend to carry out a two-month coordinated campaign to address the serious humanitarian situation in the Darién,” the statement said.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also met with his counterparts in Panama and Colombia on Tuesday.

The countries will also use “new lawful and flexible pathways for tens of thousands of migrants and refugees as an alternative to irregular migration,” the countries said without additional details.

The plan’s third element intends to help reduce poverty and create jobs in the Colombian and Panamanian communities, to subsequently decrease the number of people wanting to leave for the U.S.

The announcement comes as the Biden administration awaits the end of a rule that suspended asylum-seekers entering the U.S. The end of the pandemic-related rule, known as Title 42, has some immigration officials worried a flux of migrants could head for the U.S. border, exacerbating the current migrant crisis. —>READ MORE HERE

Source