venezuelan migrants

With mountains, intense mud, fast-running rivers and thick rainforest, the Darién Gap, a strip of terrain connecting South and Central America, is one of the most dangerous places on the planet.

Over the past few years, there has been an enormous increase in the number of migrants passing through the perilous zone in the hopes of getting to the United States.

Today, we hear the story of one family that’s risking everything to make it across.

Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The pandemic, climate change and growing conflict are forcing a seismic shift in global migration.
• Two crises are converging at the Darién Gap: an economic and humanitarian disaster underway in South America, and the bitter fight over immigration policy in Washington.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Last week, nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants showed up, without warning, on the wealthy island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Their arrival was the culmination of a monthslong strategy by two of the United States’ most conservative governors to lay the issue of undocumented immigration at Democrats’ doorstep.

How has this strategy played out and what has it meant for the migrants caught in the middle?

Guest: Miriam Jordan, a national correspondent covering immigration for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Scores of migrants have been shipped north by southern Republican governors. Here’s what you need to know.
• Martha’s Vineyard, the moneyed summer resort, has become an unlikely arena in the fight over illegal immigration.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.