In the first full month of President Trump’s second term, border patrol encounters with illegal crossers dropped 96% from the year before, with deportations reaching more than 37,000. But preventing people from ever reaching America’s southern border in the first place can save suffering and even lives. Now, there’s a renewed push to close the notorious Darien Gap. Scott Thuman reports from Panama.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

It has been Donald Trump’s signature issue since the start of his political rise, and he’s begun his second term with fast action and striking results.

Trump: Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on our southern border, and I deployed the U.S. military and Border Patrol to repel the invasion of our country, and what a job they’ve done.

Preliminary figures for February 2025 show a plunge in illegal immigrant crossings to levels not seen in 25 years, with border patrol apprehending just under 8500 people during the month.

For comparison, during some months of the Biden administration, 8500 were being apprehended on a given day.

But the focus isn’t just at the border; it’s also on routes the migrants take through Central America.

To get to the US, hundreds of thousands come through here, the tiny Central American country of Panama, but for migrants, it is also one of the most dangerous legs of their journey.

We saw firsthand just how difficult and dangerous the trip can be when we visited Panama’s Darien province back in 2023. At this makeshift camp, migrants emerge from the notorious Darien Gap, a thick and imposing jungle with no roads, where travelers pay hundreds of dollars to so-called coyotes to lead them through. It is the only land-path option, but migrants face violence and extortion along the way. Reports of deaths and rapes are common.

Jessica, from Ecuador, came through with her 11-month-old and 6-year-old boys.

Jessica: The crossing was very difficult, with lots of swamps. Your feet sink in the ground. We had to climb many rocks. Sometimes like this, sometimes in the sun.

I asked if she saw people sick or dying.

Jessica: Yes, in our path, there was a person that had died. I don’t know the cause, but they died. Another lady died too, because the rocks fall off. She fell from a tall height and died.

President Trump’s return to office has brought Panama’s position along the migrant path back into focus.

New border czar Tom Holman says that is about to change.

Tom Holman: We want to shut the Darien Gap down.

Interviewer: Would you work with the Panamanian government, would you send the US military to shut it down?

Holman: We’re always going to work with a foreign government, but it needs to happen; it’ll save thousands of lives.

But relations between the US and the government here in Panama have been strained recently over the issue of the Panama Canal, Trump is threatening to retake control of the vital waterway. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited in February for face-to-face talks. Those talks found common ground on at least one issue.

Panama’s president also says he wants to close the Darien Gap.

President Jose Raul Mulino: I won’t allow Panama to be an open path for thousands of people who enter our country illegally, supported by an international organization related to drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Trump’s aggressive policies a hot topic of discussion among some of the Panamanians we met, including businessman Surse Pierpoint.

Surse Pierpoint: We suffered first from Colombian and then Venezuelan immigration. Ten percent of Venezuelans have left the country. They’ve come through here through Darien on their way north, so there are a lot of spillover effects.

In recent weeks, reports started to emerge of migrants reversing their journeys, making their way back south to Colombia and Venezuela

Pierpoint: If you ask the average Panamanian, they love the fact that Trump is back in power because he wants to do something in this neighborhood that needs some attention

Closing this route won’t be easy or quick. In fact, one of the heads of Human Rights Watch said it’d be, quote: “virtually impossible.”

And would only push people to take more dangerous risks.

But as we found, many here say the flow must be stopped and won’t happen without first closing the gap.

For Full Measure, I’m Scott Thuman in Panama.

Watch video here.