Hardship has driven people to risk illegal immigration
The Darien Gap, a 106km expanse of dense and dangerous jungle that straddles Panama and Colombia, has become the unlikely route for migrants seeking to get into the US illegally from Latin and Central America. Few roads to El Dorado could be more challenging. Last year, a New York Times reporter Julie Turkewitz and a photographer undertook the journey for a week.
Turkewitz described a 6-year-old girl separated from her mother, who couldn’t keep up. After the two were reunited a couple of days later with Turkewitz’s help, the mother broke down in tears and returned to Venezuela to apply online for US immigration via a new scheme announced by the Joe Biden administration. Half the world away, a chartered plane of about 300 would-be Indian immigrants, principally from Gujarat and Punjab, took off from the UAE to Nicaragua last month.
The passengers were likely planning to take similarly dangerous land routes into the US. The flight was grounded in a small airport not far from Paris because authorities heard allegations of human trafficking, and most of its passengers were returned to India. January marks a year since a Gujarati couple in their late-30s from Gandhinagar district sought to cross from Canada into the US in Arctic temperatures of minus 30° Celsius.
The couple and their daughters, aged 11 and 3, were found frozen to death near the US border. The beginning of a year is typically a time of hope and renewal, but 2024 promises to be a year of disruption and dismay. Illegal immigration, attempted by millions in the hope of better lives in the developed world, increasingly defines the politics of Europe and the US, fuelling the ascendance of right-wing politicians who promise to crack down on it.
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