The Daily - A Mother, a Daughter, a Deadly Journey: An Update

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran. 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

Duration: 23m
Broadcast on: 28 Dec 2023
Audio Format: other

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.

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:

Listen to the original version of the episode here.
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.

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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. Hey, it's Michael. This week, the Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year, listening back and hearing what's happened in the time since they first ran. Today, we return to a mother and daughter who, along with hundreds of thousands of others, made a harrowing journey through the Darian Gap. And we find out where they ended up. It's Thursday, December 28th. (bell ringing) - Julie, tell us what we should know about this place, the Darian Gap. - So the Darian Gap is this narrow sliver of land between Colombia and Panama. It connects South and Central Americas. And this slip of land is a jungle, and it's an extremely inhospitable jungle. And this is because the territory is sheer mountains, intense, intense mud. To be able to traverse it on foot is very dangerous because there are deadly animals, bugs, snakes, fast-running rivers. - Wow. - And it's sort of a changing territory, too, because it's incredibly wet. This place has no road. So for years, what you saw was that a small number of migrants who sort of heard a word of mouth about the possibility of crossing, that they could do it, were braving this trek. And so you saw between 2010 and 2020, an average of under 11,000 people crossing a year. - What you've seen in the last two years is an enormous historic rise in people crossing this very dangerous, in many cases, deadly jungle. - How many more people?

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