In September the NY Times published an article about the Darién Gap, a stretch of jungle between South America and North America which migrants are forced to traverse if they want to make it to the United States. The sheer number of migrants passing through (250,000 in 2022 and many more this year) meant that the whole route had become a business proposition for the locals.

Every step through the jungle, there is money to be made.

The boat ride to reach the rainforest: $40. A guide on the treacherous route once you start walking: $170. A porter to carry your backpack over the muddy mountains: $100. A plate of chicken and rice after arduous climbing: $10. Special, all-inclusive packages to make the perilous slog faster and more bearable, with tents, boots and other necessities: $500, or more…

“We have organized everything: the boatmen, the guides, the bag carriers,” said Darwin García, an elected community board member and former town councilman in Acandí, a Colombian municipality at the entrance to the jungle.

Today, the author of that earlier report has a follow up describing how migrant videos documenting the passage through the Gap have become a hot trend on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok. Seen by thousands of other would-be migrants these videos provide inspiration for to plan their own journeys north. And just like the South American locals profiting off the stream of migrants, US companies are also making money off the videos the migrants create and share.

Manuel Monterrosa set out for the United States last year with his cellphone and a plan: He’d record his journey through the dangerous jungle known as the Darién Gap and post it on YouTube, warning other migrants of the perils they’d face.

In his six-part series, edited entirely on his phone along the way, he heads north with a backpack, leading viewers on a video-selfie play-by-play of his passage across rivers, muddy forests and a mountain known as the Hill of Death…

“Migration sells,” Mr. Monterrosa said. “My public is a public that wants a dream.”

There’s such a market for these videos that some people have become migrant influencers.

Ankush Malik, a migrant influencer from India, documented his journey from India to the United States last year, kissing his grandmother goodbye at the start of his multipart YouTube series. His channel has been viewed nearly seven million times by congratulatory, loyal viewers.

“This looks so much fun. I want to do this too,” says one.

The US social media companies sometimes pay the creators of these videos for views but the companies themselves also profit. And because these videos attract the eyeballs of potential migrants, it becomes an ideal place to advertise human trafficking services.

On Facebook, migration-related groups flourish — one has more than half a million members — creating an open marketplace for smugglers who call themselves “advisers” or “guides.”..

“Accompanying you toward your dreams!” read one recent Facebook post, where a group calling itself a “travel agency” advertises several routes through the Darién.

Technically, these posts aren’t allowed on Facebook but the company claims it can’t identify and remove all of them because there are so many.

You can begin to see how all of this works together to create an incentive for even more migrants. Consider this one minute TikTok video. Is this a dangerous migration or a weekend hike for adventure seekers? You can sort of see how people back home get the idea this looks like fun.

@ricardoherrera.96 MINI DOCUMENTAL DARIEN PARTE 2 #CapCut #darien #darienpanama #venezuela #colombia #venezolanosenelmundo #viral #parati #fypシ #paratii #selva #documental #miniserie #usa #motorcycle ♬ Welcome Home, Son (Remastered) – Radical Face

And of course there’s a glittering prize at the end of these stories. A young Venezuelan calling himself El Chamo (“the young guy”) posted videos on Facebook of his travels through the Darién Gap and followed it up with a video of his first job in the United States.

But as the article points out, not everyone who attempts this journey makes it. There are also videos full of the faces of people who’ve disappeared in the Gap. One family made a video asking for help finding their 6-year-old son who got lost in the jungle. Another featured a toddler whose mother drowned crossing a swamp.  But despite the evidence that this is extremely dangerous, it has also made planning a trip through the Gap much easier than ever. It’s clearly party of what is driving the border crisis in the US.

It’s another excellent piece of reporting and all of it is worth reading. Not a lot of comments so far but the majority agree that this paints a picture of migrants who are in it for economic reasons not because they have legitimate grounds for seeking asylum in the US.

Why are the asylum cases accepted from non Mexican citizens? If someone passes through another country en route to the United States, they have escaped their reported persecution in their home country and should not have the right to continue their journey solely for economic opportunity in the United States.

Another:

This is the reality of the “Asylum” claims. Biden needs to close the border today!!!

That won’t happen of course. One more:

I’m sorry for genuine asylum seekers, but the anecdotes presented here just add to the popular impression that the overwhelming number of migrants making this trek are coming for economic reasons. The US absolutely cannot feed and house millions of “asylum seekers” for years while we have so much need among our own citizens, and it is not wrong for Greg Abbott et al to point this out. These needy US citizens will be guaranteed votes for Trump if Congress doesn’t pass drastic limitations on asylum which is clearly being massively abused. I say this as someone whose family fled a Stalinist regime in Eastern Europe and had to wait several years in the first country they reached before being granted US residency.

Migrants are not only gaming the US asylum system, they’ve turned it into a survivor-style TV show. Maybe the Biden administration should do something about this.