Panama weighs adding checkpoints in Darien Gap, issue deportation orders

FILE - Migrants heading north arrive in Lajas Blancas, Darien province, Panama, on Oct. 6, 2023, after walking across the Darien Gap from Colombia.

Panama's next government is considering erecting new checkpoints along a stretch of thick jungle on its southern border that has become a treacherous part of the journey for growing masses of U.S.-bound migrants, the incoming security chief said Thursday.