
Assistant of State Marco Rubio will certainly leave on his initial international journey following week to see nations in Central America and the Caribbean whose collaboration might be essential for executing the Trump management’s mass expulsion strategies, the State Division claimed on Thursday.
Rubio is anticipated to trip to Panama, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, according to the division.

United State Assistant of State Marco Rubio searches as he consults with Indian External Matters Priest Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Priest Cent Wong, and Japanese Foreign Priest Iwaya Takeshi at the State Division in Washington, Jan. 21, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
The Trump management’s migration suppression is anticipated to be a huge part of Rubio’s program throughout the polite goal. In a statement from the Pentagon launched on Wednesday introducing that active-duty soldiers would certainly be released to the southerly boundary, acting Protection Assistant Robert Salesses claimed the State Division will certainly supervise of getting “the requisite polite clearances and give host-nation alert” for expulsion trips.
To achieve that, Rubio is anticipated to motivate international federal governments to approve even more of their deported nationals and, sometimes, absorb refugees from various other nations.
Rubio has actually currently claimed resolving uneven migration will certainly be a main emphasis of the State Division throughout the 2nd Trump management. In a declaration provided Wednesday, Rubio claimed, “Our polite connections with various other nations, specifically in the Western Hemisphere, will certainly focus on protecting America’s boundaries, quiting unlawful and destabilizing movement, and bargaining the repatriation of illegal aliens.”
He likewise claimed the division will certainly “no more embark on any type of tasks that promote or motivate mass movement.”
In Panama, Rubio’s involvements are most likely to concentrate on the nation’s critical river: the Panama Canal. Head Of State Donald Trump has actually articulated issues regarding the canal’s procedures various times in current weeks, declaring throughout his inaugural address that the Panamanian federal government has actually damaged guarantees it made to keep the river’s nonpartisanship when the USA consented to hand over control of the canal in 1977.

A basic sight reveals freight container ships transiting via Agua Clara Locks at the Panama Canal, on the borders of Panama City, Panama, April 11, 2024.
Aris Martinez/Reuters

A freight ship cruises below the Bridge of the Americas, which extends the entry to the Panama Canal in Panama City, Panama, Jan. 22, 2025.
Aris Martinez/Reuters
” The objective of our offer and the spirit of our treaty has actually been entirely breached. American ships are being significantly overcharged and not dealt with relatively by any means,” Trump claimed. “And most importantly, China is running the Panama Canal.”
Trump has actually consistently claimed the united state ought to reclaim control of the canal, rejecting to eliminate making use of the united state armed forces to do so.
While China does not in fact run the canal, Chinese-owned firms do run the canals on either side of the river, and Beijing’s critical positioning has actually fed bipartisan worry in the past.
” An international power today has, via their firms, which we understand are not independent, the capacity to transform the canal right into a canal momentarily of dispute, which is a straight hazard to the nationwide passion and safety of the USA,” Rubio claimed throughout his verification hearing prior to the Us senate previously this month.

A freight ship goes across the Agua Clara Locks of the Panama Canal in Colon, Panama, Sept. 2, 2024.
Matias Delacroix/AP
” This is a genuine concern that requires to be faced,” Rubio claimed, including that he had not been yet prepared to state whether Beijing has the capacity to take reliable control of the river.
” It’s something we’re mosting likely to need to examine really meticulously,” he claimed. “This is not a joke. The Panama Canal concern is a really severe one.”
Rubio has actually likewise articulated issues regarding lax oversight enabling smuggled items to be relocated via the canal, and in 2022, he led a bipartisan team of legislators in prompting the federal government of Panama to check out vessels implicated of contraband Iranian oil via the canal.
Throughout his verification hearing, Rubio likewise shared a favorable testimonial of Panamanian leaders.
” The Panamanian federal government, specifically its existing officials, are really pleasant to the USA and really participating,” he claimed. “And we desire that to proceed.”