Heart-Wrenching Report Reveals the Danger of Inviting Migrants to Journey to the US

Content Warning: This article includes references to assault, sexual violence, and other information that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
A heart-wrenching new report revealed that Doctors Without Borders treated nearly 400 migrants who were victims of rape after crossing through the notorious Darien Gap between Panama and Columbia.
Doctors Without Borders divulged the gory details of migrants’ encounters with cartel members and violent militant groups who set up “rape tents” for the purpose of brutalizing women and children who passed through the area on their journey to the United States. The Darien Gap consists of more than 60 miles of “dense rain forest, steep mountains, and vast swamps” according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
“This year, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have treated 397 survivors of sexual violence, many of them children, after they succeeded in crossing to Panama,” the report reads. The organization claims that nearly 460,000 migrants have passed through the hazardous area this year alone. In October, “MSF teams assisted 107 survivors, including 59 people in one week—which equates to one incident of sexual violence occurring every three hours. Three of the rape victims were children aged 11, 12, and 16.”
In FY2023, which ran from October 2022 through the end of September 2023, Customs and Border Patrol agents encountered 2,475,669 illegal immigrants at the U.S. southern border, nearly 100,000 more than FY2022, and close to 1 million more than in FY2021. In an exclusive interview with TPUSA’s Frontlines team, retired Texas DPS captain Jaeson Jones called the mass entry the “largest intelligence failure since 9/11.”
Border Patrol agents have also expressed to Frontlines reporters that their hands are “completely tied” in many circumstances when they suspect human trafficking or abuse.
Currently, the U.S. incentivizes migrants to take this treacherous journey by permitting millions to enter and stay in the country illegally and obtain work visas. These individuals are given “NTAs” or notice-to-appear documents which give the migrant a date to be seen in court to have their asylum claim heard by an immigration judge; however, CBP agents working in Yuma, Arizona told Frontlines that 90% of migrants are no-shows.
Illegal immigrants are given shelter, food, cell phones, medical care, and more after they arrive in the U.S., only increasing the number of individuals and families that risk their lives crossing through areas like the Darien Gap to reach the U.S.
Organizations like DWB/MSF insist that the humanitarian response must be to increase the presence of law enforcement in areas devastated by violence.
“MSF is calling on governments to ensure an effective presence in the Darién Gap to end the many risks to which migrants are exposed, including sexual violence,” the organization stated. “MSF also calls on governments to ensure that survivors of sexual violence can access medical care within 72 hours of the incident to avoid unwanted pregnancies, HIV, and other sexually transmitted diseases.”
MSF concluded its report with the statement, “Migration is not a crime. Human mobility is a universal right.” However, the abhorrent results directly linked to the open U.S. southern border should incentivize policymakers to reevaluate their lax stance on illegal immigration.