It’s been obvious for some time now that President Joe Biden has no interest in closing our southern border or putting an end to the illegal migrant crisis he created upon taking office. With that in mind, we may need to look for some help elsewhere. Could that help be delivered by Jose Raul Mulino, the newly elected president of Panama? He suggested as much last week in an address to his nation. He didn’t guarantee that he could shut down the flow of migrants through his country, but he did say that he would “make the effort to end this migratory crisis” and do so in a way that demonstrates “respect for human rights and with sincere international participation.” We may as well let him give it a try. What else do we have to lose? Our colleague Leah Barkoukis has the details at Townhall.
Panama’s newly elected president, José Raúl Mulino, vowed to close a major passageway for migrants heading toward the U.S. border.
“I will make the effort to end this migratory crisis in our territory with respect for human rights and with sincere international participation,” Mulino said last week.
“The border of the United States, instead of being in Texas, moved to Panama,” said Mulino, the former public security minister who was elected on Sunday. “We’re going to close the Darien and we’re going to repatriate all these people.”
Last year, more than half a million people crossed the hazardous Darien Gap on the border with Columbia. In addition to the difficult terrain, many migrants also become victims of sexual violence.
It isn’t immediately clear what motivated Mulino to take this position. He’s an interesting character who started out his professional life as an attorney specializing in maritime law. He later moved into politics and held a few different positions in the Panamanian government before replacing his running mate this year and being elected president.
Mulino doesn’t seem like the sort of person who would go out of his way to help Joe Biden, but that may not be what’s going on here. He’s a member of the Realizing Goals party, which is considered to be right-wing by Panamanian political standards. Being an experienced politician, I would assume that he keeps a close eye on international affairs, including the upcoming elections in the United States. It’s possible that he’s been watching the poll numbers like the rest of us and he’s trying to score some early points with Donald Trump in case he returns to office. Trump is a good friend to have if you are leading a comparatively impoverished nation.
But could Mulino make good on this plan? If you take a good look at a map of Panama, you will note that they have a much smaller border to defend than the United States or nearly anyone else in the Americas. Panama shares a border of barely 100 miles with both Colombia and Costa Rica. If you plan to reach the United States on foot, Panama is the ultimate chokepoint along your journey, hence why they chose to build the canal there.
So it’s a relatively short border, but could Mulino shut it down? Panama doesn’t have a military in the traditional sense of the term, but the government does maintain a public security force that serves most of the same functions. That security force (the Fuerza Pública de la República de Panamá) has roughly 30,000 troops, though they refer to them as “employees.” You can cover quite a bit of territory with that many people, though of course they couldn’t all be suddenly transferred to the border, ignoring the rest of the country.
I doubt Joe Biden would be interested in helping Mulino secure his border because it would run contrary to his political goals. But if we had Donald Trump back in office and a reasonable majority in both the House and the Senate, I would wager that they would be willing to arrange for some money and resources to shut down the stream of migrants. Heck, we might even help them build a wall. A good construction crew could put up one hundred miles of wall fairly quickly. This might be something worth looking into.