More than 14,000 migrants, primarily Venezuelans, have reversed course and begun heading back south instead of continuing toward the United States, according to a report released Friday by the governments of Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica. The shift comes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, which has sharply limited access for asylum-seekers.
The unusual phenomenon, labeled “reverse flow” migration, consists largely of Venezuelan migrants who originally fled their country’s prolonged economic, political, and social crises. Many had undertaken the grueling trek through the Darién Gap—a dangerous jungle corridor connecting Colombia and Panama—only to realize that new U.S. immigration policies now block their entry.
Migration through the Darién Gap surged in 2023, when more than half a million migrants made the crossing. The flow slowed somewhat in 2024, but this year it has collapsed almost entirely. According to Friday’s report, northward migration has fallen by 97% in the first months of 2025.
The report, prepared with the support of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, found that nearly all southbound migrants interviewed in Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia were Venezuelans, accounting for 97% of the total. Roughly half of them indicated plans to return to Venezuela, while others said they might remain in Colombia or another South American country. Almost all cited the impossibility of legally reaching the United States as their main reason for turning back.
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Since 2017, an estimated 8 million Venezuelans have fled the country amid hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and political repression. Initially, most settled in nearby South American nations such as Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile. However, beginning in 2021, hundreds of thousands began pushing north toward the United States, risking extortion, violence, and death in the Darién Gap.
For many, the tightening of U.S. immigration rules has now closed off that path. Instead of pursuing the American dream, thousands are retracing their steps, with some returning to Venezuela despite its ongoing instability. The report underscores how shifts in U.S. policy can reverberate across the hemisphere, altering not only migration flows but also the hopes and decisions of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.