Panama and Costa Rica Governments Are Doing Smugglers' Job for Them

The Center for Immigration Studies sent a reporting team to Panama and Costa Rica where they investigated the policy of "controlled flow", in which the governments of Panama and Costa Rica are moving thousands of migrants — including many from terror-prone Middle Eastern countries — toward the U.S. southern border.

Todd Bensman, the Center's Senior National Security Fellow who led the CIS reporting team, said, "At a time when the U.S. government remains partially shut down because congressional leaders have dismissed President Trump's national security concerns at the border, these Central American governments have effectively become human smugglers. They are moving huge flows of migrants (including many Middle Easterners) northward to our border. I interviewed migrants from terror-prone countries, including Pakistan and Iran, who outlined to me step-by-step how the authorities in Panama and Costa Rica are helping transport them closer to the United States."

View the full analysis and video: https://www.cis.org/Bensman/Panama-and-Costa-Rica-Doing-Smugglers-Work-Controlled-Flow-Policy

The "controlled flow" policy originated in 2016, when the Panamanian government experienced large flows of Haitian migrants, and encouraged them to travel north rather than stay in Panama. The Haitian wave of migrants has abated, but the policy remains in place, as outlined in the video below.

Read More HERE