A boat carrying 19 migrants — part of a “reverse flow” of migrants who once hoped to reach the United States — capsized off the Caribbean coast of Panama on Saturday, claiming the life of an 8-year-old Venezuelan boy,

Venezuelan migrant Davinny Moreno boards a boat with her mother Eva Ramirez, left, to depart from the Caribbean coastal village of Miramar, Panama, for the Colombian border, Thursday, Feb. 27,

A boat carrying 19 migrants — part of a “reverse flow” of migrants who once hoped to reach the United States — capsized off the Caribbean coast of Panama on Saturday, claiming the life of an 8-year-old Venezuelan boy,

Migrants board a boat at the Caribbean coastal village of Miramar, Panama, bound for the Colombian border, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, as migrants return from southern Mexico after abandoning hopes

A boat carrying 19 migrants — part of a “reverse flow” of migrants who once hoped to reach the United States — capsized off the Caribbean coast of Panama on Saturday, claiming the life of an

Migrants play dominoes in Gardi Sugdub Island, on Panama's Caribbean coast, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Dozens of Venezuelan migrants boarded small boats on an island off the Caribbean coast of Panama on Monday, setting off towards Colombia by sea as part of a reverse migration of families who have given up trying to reach the United States.

Migrants wind down during sunset on Gardi Sugdub Island, on Panama's Caribbean coast, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, where they will overnight before attempting to board boats to Colombia the following

Migrants board a boat at the Caribbean coastal village of Miramar, Panama, bound for the Colombian border, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, as migrants return from southern Mexico after abandoning hopes

Venezuelan migrant Gabriela Villanueva holds her daughter as she waits to board a boat to Colombia on Panama's Caribbean coastal island of Gardi Sugdub, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, after turning back from southern Mexico where they gave up hopes of reaching the U.

Officials in Costa Rica and Panama are confiscating migrants’ passports and cellphones, denying them access to legal services and moving them between remote outposts as they wrestle with the logistics of a suddenly reversed migration flow.

The ordeal of those returning has been further highlighted a tragedy last Friday, when a boat carrying 21 migrants capsized in rough waters