A new wave of thousands of migrants is on the move, impacting countries throughout the region.

Security crisis in Haiti and Ecuador; political repression in Nicaragua, economic turmoil in Cuba, Venezuela…. are some of the reasons why we will find migrants from all these countries making their trek North.

The number of people crossing the perilous Darien has hit a record high of 400,000 in the year to September, according to Panamanian authorities.

Panama registered a record 81,000 migrants arriving via the Darien in August, the highest number on record in one month.

On Friday Mexican Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said in Washington, that there has been a “crisis” at the U.S.-Mexico border, speaking alongside senior officials from both countries.

Barcena added that Mexico is looking to carry out “assisted returns” of migrants to Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia, in addition to its current deportation flights to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

In 2021 more than 130,000 migrants successfully crossed the jungle on foot, up from an average of fewer than 11,000 per year during the previous decade.

In 2022, arrivals jumped to almost 250,000 people.

That number was surpassed in just the first eight months of 2023, and more than 500,000 people are on pace to cross by the end of this year – Further north, U.S. agencies are reporting as many as 9,000 illegal migrants crossing per day from Mexico.

The huge numbers can be seen in Mexico, with record groups boarding the train that has traditionally been a route to get to the
U.S. border.

Aljazeera.