The trip through the Darién Gap forest area in Panama has become increasingly popular with migrants thanks to social media. Chinese migrants who seek this path first travel to Ecuador. Once in Panama, the migrants travel north to the U.S.-Mexico border. Chinese migrants now represent the ninth-highest nationality at the U.S. border and the highest outside of Mexico, Central and South America. In recent weeks, Chinese migrants have made camps in the California desert as they wait to surrender to U.S. officials and ask for asylum.
