Panama immigration authorities reported on  Tuesday, June 6, that they "referred" 114 irregular migrants they found on the streets of David, to the border with Costa Rica.

The Police and Migration initially located 121 migrants during operations between Thursday and Sunday "in different streets and sectors of the David district”

Of the 121 apprehended by the Police, 114 "were sent to the border area of ​​Paso Canoas," the land crossing with Costa Rica, and "will continue their transit through Central America," the Panamanian authorities said. They said that of the 114 migrants, 90 were Venezuelans, 9 Haitians, 7 Colombians, 2 Chileans, 2 Chinese, 2 Ecuadorians, and 2 Peruvians.

To the rest of the "captured" migrants, the authorities applied "administrative offenses."

A Colombian was taken to a shelter, an Ecuadorian "was given a summons" and five Venezuelans had a refugee application.

The Darién plug, which separates Panama and Colombia, is considered one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world and is used daily by hundreds of irregular migrants many of them mobilized by networks of human traffickers.

In the first five months of the year, 166,122 irregular migrants have crossed Darién, a number almost five times higher than the same period in 2022. The majority continue to be Venezuelans, followed by Haitians.

It is expected that this year 400,000 people will cross the Darién Gap which would almost double the data for 2022.