130 Indian migrants deported by Panama under US deal

Panama on Friday deported 130 Indian irregular migrants who had entered the country via the inhospitable Darien jungle, under a deal on repatriations signed with the United States in July.

This was the first such expulsion outside of the Americas under the deal, and the fourth in total.

Washington pledged $6 million for migrant repatriations from the Central American nation in the hopes of reducing irregular crossings at its own southern border.

Panama's director of migration, Roger Mojica, told reporters the Indians were deported on a charter flight to New Delhi for "irregular migration."

At the same press conference, US Security Attache for Central America Marlen Pineiro said Washington was "very grateful to the government of Panama for all this support," adding that: "Irregular migration cannot continue."

The Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama has become a key corridor for migrants traveling overland from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States.

Despite the dangers, including attacks by criminal gangs, more than half a million undocumented migrants -- mostly Venezuelans -- crossed the Darien last year.

Transit countries such as Panama and Mexico have come under increased pressure from Washington to tackle the highly contentious migration issue in a US election year.

The July deal makes provision for a first phase of deporting migrants with a criminal record, but could see the repatriation of any person entering Panama through the notoriously dangerous and rugged Darien Gap region.

It was signed the same day that Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino took office, after a campaign in which he pledged to crack down on Darien Gap crossings.

With Friday's deportation, Panama has expelled 219 migrants in two weeks.