US to pay for flights to help Panama remove migrants who may be heading north

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is going to pay for flights and offer other help to Panama to remove migrants. The agreement was signed Monday during an official visit to Panama by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for the inauguration of the Central American country’s new president. José Raúl Mulino has vowed to shut down the treacherous Darien Gap used by people traveling north to the United States. U.S. Homeland Security teams in Panama would help the government there train personnel and build up its own expertise and ability to determine which migrants could be removed from the country. The U.S. would then pay for charter flights or commercial airplane tickets for them to return to their home countries.