Every morning, open boats depart from the Panamanian port of Miramar, transporting Venezuelan adults and several children back to their country. Their plan to reach the United States was thwarted by immigration restrictions imposed during Donald Trump’s administration.
Andrew Machado watches the street from inside the house where dozens of Venezuelan migrants are staying in Miramar, Panama, March 29, 2025.
Franchesca Diaz, a Venezuelan migrant, talks with her daughter and a friend outside the house where they are staying in Miramar, Panama, on March 29, 2025.
Darlin Davila uses his phone inside the house where dozens of Venezuelan migrants are staying in Miramar, Panama, March 29, 2025.
Venezuelan migrants and Panamanian citizens coexist outside a house in Miramar, Panama, on March 29, 2025.
Dozens of Venezuelan migrants arrive at the port of Miramar, Panama, on March 30, 2025, to take a boat to Colombia and then continue their route to Venezuela, following the anti-immigration policies of the United States.
Luis Rangel, a Venezuelan migrant, shows a photo in New York, taken days before he began a return trip to his country following U.S. anti-immigration policies, at the port of Miramar, Panama, March 30, 2025.
A young Venezuelan man applies sunscreen to his face before boarding a boat that will take him to Colombia in an attempt to reach Venezuela from the port of Miramar, Panama, on March 30, 2025.
Venezuelan migrants sail in a boat to return to their country after learning of U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies, in Miramar, Panama, March 30, 2025.
Every morning, open boats depart from the Panamanian port of Miramar, transporting Venezuelan adults and several children back to their country. Their plan to reach the United States was thwarted by immigration restrictions imposed during Donald Trump’s administration.
Miramar, a tiny coastal town of just 200 inhabitants in the province of Colón, has become an enclave fraught with tension and frustrated hope. The returnees, mostly Venezuelan migrants, wander among dilapidated streets and houses. “According to Trump, we are all gang members,” said Franchesca Diaz, 19, who is waiting in Panama to raise the money she needs to return. A dilapidated pink structure has become a refuge: a temporary space where people sleep on cardboard, separated only by tattered curtains, while the Caribbean waves crash against the shore.
Migrants face new obstacles: the sea route to Colombia is extremely expensive. The cost of a place on the boat is around $260, a figure that few can afford. Thus, the dream of moving north is halted and the difficult journey back begins, against the tide.
