BARRIO (AP) – Panama unveiled a new effort to control illegal migration through the treacherous Darien Gap that spans its eastern border with Colombia on Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have risked the dangerous trek through the jungle in recent years and the flow this year is on a record pace. Most of those who cross are trying to reach the United States.

So in April, as the U.S. government prepared to lift pandemic-related restrictions that had allowed authorities to turn back asylum seekers at the border, it announced together with Panama and Colombia increased efforts in the largely lawless Darien Gap.

Panama’s “Shield” campaign announced Friday is the first public display of those new efforts.

WHAT IS THE DARIEN GAP?

The Darien Gap earned its name because it is the break in the Pan-American Highway connecting South and North America. Darien is also the name of Panama’s easternmost province, which abuts Colombia.

It is composed of dense, roadless jungle, mountains and fast flowing rivers. Migrants who have made the crossing regularly report being robbed, sexually assaulted and of seeing bodies of others who did not survive along the way. Earlier this week, three suspected bandits died in a shootout with border police in Darien.

The crossing from Colombia can take anywhere from a few days to more than a week.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE CROSSING?

Last year, nearly 250,000 people crossed the Darien Gap, nearly double the 133,000 who crossed in 2021, and a new record. That increase was driven largely by Venezuelans, who accounted for some 60% of the migrants crossing there last year.

In April, the United Nations warned that the unprecedented number of crossings to start the year suggested that some 400,000 migrants could cross this year. According to government data, nearly 170,000 migrants crossed the Darien in the first four months of the year, five times the number from the same period last year.

In early May before the U.S. lifted the pandemic era asylum restrictions, Panamanian officials at the edge of the jungle registered the arrival of some 2,000 migrants in one day. Venezuelans continue to be the largest group crossing, but there are also Haitians, Chinese and Ecuadorians among others.