U.S., Panama agree to address ‘irregular’ migration

July 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will fund a program to help Panama remove illegal migrants from within its borders, the Biden administration announced Monday.

" Irregular migration is a regional challenge that requires a regional response," Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a news release Monday. "We are grateful for our partnership with Panama to manage the historic levels of migration across the Western Hemisphere."

The program will help the Panamanian government remove foreign nationals who illegally are in Panama.

The goal is to reduce "unprecedented irregular migration" through the Darien Province of eastern Panama and which is the entryway to Central America from South America.

About 520,000 "irregular migrants" with no legal basis traveled through Panama's Darien Province last year, according to the DHS.

The agreement with the Biden administration supports "safe and effective Panamanian repatriation operations," including protection screening of migrants, according to the DHS.

The repatriation operations include removal flights that are part of a comprehensive regional approach to addressing irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere.

The DHS will support training and capacity-building to enable "safe, humane repatriation processes in Panama," Mayorkas said.

The cooperative agreement supports the reduction of the "number of migrants being cruelly smuggled through the Darien, usually en route to the United States," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a prepared statement Monday.

"Returning such individuals to their country of origin ... will help deter irregular migration in the region and at our southern border and halt the enrichment of malign smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants," Watson said.

The Biden administration announced the agreement on the same day that newly elected Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino was inaugurated.

"The United States reaffirms our long-standing partnership with Panama," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a prepared statement Monday. "We will work together to strengthen institutions,advance inclusive economic growth and promote good governance and citizen security."

Blinken said the United States also will work with Panamanian officials to "address the unprecedented level of illegal migration through the Darien and dissuade would-be migrants from attempting this extremely dangerous journey."

The Biden administration also has created sanctions and worked with other countries this year in attempts to tackle irregular migration patterns that can affect the United States, particularly at the southern border.

In May, Blinken announced $578 million in humanitarian, development and economic assistance for various countries in the Western Hemisphere. He unveiled the funds in Guatemala , where he had led a delegation to a ministerial meeting of the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection, a multi-country agreement aimed at combating migration and forced displacement.

Nicaragua also was the target of May sanctions from the United States . The Biden administration said Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, were profiteering off the plight of "irregular migrants" seeking passage to the United States.

In February, the United States expanded visa restrictions to transportation operators accused of offering services that facilitate irregular migration. The State Department said the new policy would target owners, executives and senior officials of "charter flight, ground and maritime transportation companies providing transportation services designed for use primarily by persons intending to migrate irregularly to the United States."