Once these transfers are complete, however, the country will no longer be providing travel for additional migrants who arrive later.
“Once the transfer of those Cubans included in the census is completed, those who arrive later will have to decide which country they want to return to,” Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela told the local news last week. “We cannot become the logistical support for an irregular migration route.”
Cuban migrants temporarily housed in Panama have been raving about the kind treatment they have received, which includes medical care.
“This new place is kind of fun. We usually play baseball or dominoes or we dance,” Leslie Jesús Barrera, who arrived with Chale to Los Planes told In Cuba Today. “We help out when we're asked to help with some task, but otherwise it's like camping.”
Since October 2014, immigration data estimates that nearly 132,000 Central Americans and about 75,000 Cubans have crossed the US border by land, where they generally arrive at an immigration station and hope to receive probationary documents allowing them to stay in the country.
