Rubio heads to Central America as Trump admin attempts crackdown on migration to US

(CNN) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives in Panama on Saturday for his first trip as the United States’ top diplomat that will test if his diplomacy can build on President Donald Trump’s bellicose and transactional approach to “American First” foreign policy, particularly on migration.

Rubio’s choice to visit Central America – Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic – is intentional and meant to drive forward the Trump agenda by “paying closer attention to our own neighborhood.”

Migration will be a key focus throughout Rubio’s trip, set against the backdrop of the dramatic confrontation between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro last Sunday.

Discussion about the Panama Canal – which Trump has repeatedly said should be back under US control – is also “a priority” while the top US diplomat is in Panama City.

Rubio is also expected to emphasize efforts to counter China in the region. However, aid officials and some US officials say this effort – and priorities like countering illegal migration and drug trafficking – have been undermined by his sweeping foreign assistance freeze.

On migration, Trump officials have been mapping out a Latin America strategy, keenly aware that the region is integral to their aggressive deportation agenda. For years, the US has been sending back migrants from Central American countries. However, the Covid-19 pandemic in part spurred record migration across the Western Hemisphere, meaning that more people were journeying to the United States’ southern border from multiple countries.

The less-than-day-long public showdown between the Trump and Petro has been a key talking point among Trump officials and offers a window into how the administration plans to approach its dealings with regional allies.

“We need to work with countries of origin to halt and deter further migrant flows, and to accept the return of their citizens present in the U.S. illegally,” Rubio wrote in the Wall Street Journal Friday.

“Some countries are cooperating with us enthusiastically—others, less so. The former will be rewarded,” he said. “For the latter, Mr. Trump has already shown that he is more than willing to use America’s considerable leverage to protect our interests. Just ask Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro.”

Still, how the administration plans to specifically work with its partners in the Western Hemisphere is still unclear.

One test will be how the Trump administration leverages its close relationship with El Salvador. US officials are in talks with the country to strike an asylum agreement that would allow the US to send asylum seekers who are not Salvadoran to El Salvador to seek protections.

The matter is expected to be discussed during Rubio’s meetings with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and other officials.

“During the first Trump Administration, El Salvador was one of three countries that had a Safe Third Agreement with the United States, which will also be a topic of discussion,” Trump special envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone told reporters Friday.

The US and El Salvador also expected to discuss the possibility of deporting suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which originated in Venezuela, to El Salvador, where Bukele’s vast and violent crackdown on gangs has earned admiration from the Trump administration.

“Those extraordinary measures, which are frankly the envy of a lot of countries throughout the Western Hemisphere, has really made him one of the most consequential leaders not only on security but a great ally on migration,” Claver-Carone said.

“We’re looking to do a new agreement that might include the members of the Tren de Aragua, who will want to go back to Venezuela rather than having to share the prison with the Salvadorean gangs like MS-13. It’s part of what we want to discuss and how President Bukele can help us,” Claver-Carone said.

In Costa Rica too, Rubio will seek to expand repatriation efforts.

“One of the subjects of discussion will be a repatriation program with Costa Rica to help with not only those that are coming up from South America but those that are coming from throughout the world, extra-continentals that are coming through and how they can help repatriate in that manner,” Claver-Carone said.

Panama is also critical to efforts to reducing migrant traffic. The country is home to the Darien Gap, a treacherous jungle connecting South and Central America. Crossings there have served as a barometer of how many migrants may be journeying to the US southern border. The number of people trekking through the passage has plummeted.

The number of migrants who have crossed Panama in the first 23 days of January 2025 has decreased by 93% compared to the same period in the previous year, according to the National Migration Service of Panama.

The US and Panama struck an agreement last year under former President Joe Biden to address the flow of migrants coming through the Darien Gap that included equipment, transportation, and logistic support. The passage, which remains a priority for the Trump administration, is expected to come up in meetings between Rubio and Panamanian officials, including President José Raúl Mulino.

“We have a very successful repatriation program with Panama that frankly should be expanded, and obviously that’ll be a focus on the conversation,” Claver-Carone said Friday.

The issue of the Panama Canal is “a priority to be discussed,” he said. Rubio will tour the canal and “visit with the Panama Canal administrator.”

Trump’s repeated, publicly stated desire for the US to retake control of the key waterway has already caused a diplomatic stir, with Mulino repeatedly stating that that Panama’s sovereignty over the canal is not up for debate.

“There is no discussion on this issue. The soul of a country is not up for discussion,” Mulino emphasized on Thursday, just days ahead of his scheduled meeting with Rubio.

Officials, including Rubio, have argued it is a matter of national security and deterring Beijing because Panama Ports – part of a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings – operates terminals on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal.

“It’s a technicality, but in reality, if China wanted to obstruct traffic in the Panama Canal, they could,” Rubio said in an interview with Megyn Kelly Thursday.

“We cannot allow any foreign power – particularly China – to hold that kind of potential control over it that they do. That just can’t continue,” he said.

The issue of countering China is expected to come up across his regional visits. Trade between China and Latin American countries has ballooned from $10 billion in 2000 to $450 billion in 2022, according to the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.

“We look forward to expanding with Guatemala the discussions on how to continue to support us on migration, and obviously countering Chinese influence throughout the region,” Claver-Carone said. Guatemala has maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan even as other countries like El Salvador have not.

Humanitarian officials and some US officials argue that the US is ceding influence to China in South and Central America because of Trump’s policies like the foreign aid freeze, which they say creates a vacuum that Beijing will be happy to fill.

There are scores of programs in the region caught up in the sudden and sweeping pause on foreign assistance. Those programs include efforts to counter narcotics, something that is said to be a priority when Rubio visits the Dominican Republic.

CNN has asked the State Department if any waivers have been issued for programs in the region ahead of Rubio’s visit.

CNN’ Angelica Franganillo Díaz, Stefano Pozzebon and Patrick Oppmann contributed reporting.

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