The director of Immigration, Samira Gozaine, highlighted in the Radiography program that at the Tocumen International Airport weekly they have approximately 700 security incidents and manage to detain some 23 people in that same period; She emphasized that Migration’s work is mainly security.
“That involves people who come with fraudulent passports, fraudulent visas, people who have criminal records, the most wanted around the world, I think that citizens really do not know the work of Immigration in relation to detaining people,” he said.
On the other hand, he said that before the arrival of cruise ships in Panama they have managed to have enough inspectors active so that the process is efficient and competitive, taking into account that the agencies require expedited processes.
“They say that they have little time, that the “tours” last two, three, four hours and that they need to do the processes quickly,” said Gozaine.
However, he indicated that although they try to be effective, they need to strengthen security because in Panama there is still no free port area and the passport review is a procedure that must be carried out; either, for issues of care of the passengers themselves or to avoid crimes.
“Just as people try to forge identities at the airport, this can also happen by sea,” he mentioned.
It should be noted that in recent days several cruise ships have arrived in the country, each with more than 1,000 people, who have landed in both Amador and Colón.
Gozaine said that there is a project to close a space so that maritime travel passengers can disembark, but he specified that it has not been possible due to the pandemic.
In another sense, he referred to the experience with the reception of tourists in the different airports and said that the migration agents have managed to work in a coordinated way so that the access of the passengers is carried out in a good way.
The director argued that they have received support from the United States Embassy with different systems that have allowed inspectors to acquire up-to-date knowledge.
“Our migration system is integrated with information from Interpol, Europol and all alerts worldwide thanks to this system that the American Embassy has donated to us. We have a National Migration Service whose inspectors are up to date with all the information and they like to do their job,” he stressed.
With reference to the Colón Airport, he said that the security forces and a work group are meeting so that the project can be reactivated; He mentioned that everything is in coordination with the Colon Free Zone, who have structured plans with charter flights.
