People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, either clandestinely or through deception, such as the use of fraudulent documents".[1]
The practice of people smuggling has seen a rise over the past few decades and now accounts for a significant portion of illegal immigration in countries around the world. People smuggling generally takes place with the consent of the person or persons being smuggled, and common reasons for individuals seeking to be smuggled include employment and economic opportunity, personal and/or familial betterment, and escape from persecution, violence or conflict.
In 2015, the ongoing civil war in Syria has led to massive displacement and reliance on people smugglers to assist people to seek sanctuary in Europe. This has also led to unprecedented movements – and deaths – across the Mediterranean. According to UNHCR statistics, there have been almost one million arrivals by sea in Europe in 2015, and more than 2900 dead or missing migrants.[2] According to the IOM Missing Migrants Project, there have been more than 3800 deaths during migration around the world in 2015.[3]
Unlike human trafficking, people smuggling is characterized by the consent between customer and smuggler – a contractual agreement that typically terminates upon arrival in the destination location. However, smuggling situations can nonetheless in reality descend into situations that can best be described as extreme human rights abuses, with smuggled migrants subject to threats, abuse, exploitation and torture, and even death at the hands of smugglers.[4] People involved in smuggling operations may also be victims of trafficking, for example when they are tricked about the terms and conditions of their role for the purpose of exploiting their labour in the operation.[5]
Smuggling operations are complex, working within networks of many individual players. As smuggling operations and its underlying infrastructure becomes increasingly intricate, so do the issues surrounding the matter of people smuggling. With major and minor players spanning the globe, people smuggling poses a significant economic and legal impact on society, and solutions to the problem of people smuggling remain contested and under continued debate and development. Smuggling has been described as the classic "wicked problem: one that is hard to define, keeps changing, and does not present a clear solution because of pre-existing factors that are themselves highly resistant to change – in this case the very existence of States, gross inequalities among them, and strong motivations on the part of some to keep them out." Because every state has different economics and governments, this problem cannot be universally defined, and this makes it more difficult for law enforcement to stop smuggling of people, as they have to adapt to the conditions in different states.[6]
Reasons
Many individuals who consent to being smuggled are escaping poverty and hardship, seeking opportunities and better conditions abroad, or escaping natural disaster, conflict, or persecution. Others may be seeking asylum. While many who are smuggled are poor and uneducated, there are also others who belong to the educated middle class. As such, perhaps the only generalization that can be made about smuggled individuals is that they are all on a quest for a better life.
Operations
People smuggling operations range from small to large-scale actors operating in a transnational market. Small-scale smugglers generally arrange all aspects of the smuggling operations themselves. However, more commonly, smugglers engage and do business within a larger smuggling network where there is a division of work among the actors involved. In the past, smuggling rings tended to be more obscure, amateurish, and limited. As people smuggling has continued to grow, however, smuggling rings are far more extensive and organized. In Mexico, as Jim Chaparro – head of the anti-smuggling office at the US Immigration and Naturalization Service – puts it, the once small and informal smuggling business has evolved into a powerful web of "literally hundreds of syndicates, some at a low level and some at the kingpin level".[7][bettersourceneeded] (In fact, as the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States from Mexico has become more organized, there has opened an opportunity for smuggling groups within Mexico to market their services to non-Mexicans. Indeed, smuggling operations are often complex and smuggled persons often make stops at countries across the globe before arriving at their final destination.)[citation needed]
A Lebanese-Mexican Symbiotic smuggling network involved in human smuggling into the United States of America that came to the attention of law enforcement and counterintelligence has been described in the literature.[8]
Over the years, smuggling has evolved into a sophisticated service industry, with certain routes and enclaves used by smugglers becoming practically institutionalized; for example: from Mexico and Central America to the United States, from West Asia through Greece and Turkey to Western Europe, and within East and Southeast Asia.[9] Responsible for the flourishing business of people smuggling are a combination of interacting factors, from weak legislation and lax border controls to corrupt officials and the power of organized crime.
The complexity of the smuggling network is dependent upon the route to be taken and the nature of the journey. For routes that are well-known and tested, smugglers may function more as family enterprises and utilize fairly contained operations. The more complex the route, however, the more members of the smuggling network must be recruited. In general, the infrastructure of the people smuggling business is nontraditional, with no clearly identifiable organization and no rigid structure. The network of smugglers is diffused and decentralized. Smugglers form temporary business alliances, and the organization of smugglers can best be understood and described as ad hoc task forces, in which activities are specialized and controlled by individuals that deal with each other on a one-to-one basis. In the business of people smuggling, there is no single "godfather" figure who commands the activities of subordinates; rather, individuals conduct business on equal grounds and tend to consider themselves free agents. In fact, according to a Los Angeles-based smuggler, "The division of labor is really clear and refined. Everyone involved is useful in his own way and does his own thing only. There is no leadership in any smuggling rings. Leadership will not emerge because the work involved is so specialized".[10]
According to Frontex, people smugglers give detailed descriptions of benefits of individual EU countries so they can compare the available benefits of for instance Sweden, Denmark and Germany before applying for asylum.[11]
Smuggling vs. trafficking
A concerted international focus on defining and responding to migrant smuggling only occurred in the 1990s. This focus followed sharp rises in irregular migration to the United States, and to Europe in the 1980s and 1990s.[12] A focus on those who facilitate irregular migration – rather than migrants themselves – was seen as a critical element of any response.[12] The resulting legal framework was the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (Migrant Smuggling Protocol), that supplements the parent instrument, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
The Migrant Smuggling Protocol does not provide a complete or self-contained legal regime. It exists as part of a "dense web of rights, obligations and responsibilities drawn not just from the Protocol and Convention but also from the law of the sea, human rights law, and refugee law".[13]
An important distinction to make is that between human smuggling and human trafficking. Given the complex nature of human smuggling and trafficking operations, the difference between these two criminal operations is not always readily apparent. Delineating between the two involves taking closer look at the subtle differences between each.
Generally speaking, human trafficking involves transporting individuals from one place to another either against their will or under some sort of false pretense. With smuggling, on the other hand, there is understood to be an agreement between smuggler and customer, a meeting of the minds and a contract between the two. These differences can similarly be detected in the Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols (more commonly known as the Palermo Protocols) passed by the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. The Palermo Protocols frame the difference between smuggling and trafficking around the dichotomy of coercion and consent: whereas people who are trafficked are considered "victims" or "survivors", individuals who are smuggled are seen as having engaged willingly in an enterprise that one or both of the bordering countries consider illegal.[14] (This dichotomous framework is particularly evident in the protections afforded for each group. The Trafficking Protocol addresses the need for protection of trafficked persons and provides for a broad range of protective measures, while the Smuggling Protocol contains minimal reference to protections for smuggled persons).[15]
More specifically, below are three main technical differences between smuggling and trafficking, which are as follows:
Consent – trafficking victims are those who have been subjected to coercive, deceptive, or abusive action by traffickers. These victims either never consented, or if they did, their initial consent is rendered meaningless by the subsequent actions of the traffickers.
Exploitation – smuggling operations and interaction between smuggler and customer usually terminate upon payment and arrival at destination; trafficking victims, on the other hand, are often involved in a cycle of ongoing exploitation.
Source of Profits – primary profits from smuggling operations are derived from transportation and facilitation of illegal entry or stay in another country, whereas trafficking operations profit largely from the exploitation of victims.
The recognition of trafficked persons as "victims" but smuggled migrants as "objects" of a process is a principal point of difference between how international law treats trafficked and smuggled migrants. Nonetheless, it is important to recognise that in reality and in law, smuggled migrants can still be victims of crime – whether this is theft, fraud, sexual assault, deprivation of liberty or even human trafficking.[16]
Sometimes there is a gender dimension to the distinction between smuggling and trafficking: those who are smuggled are often assumed to be mostly men, whereas victims of trafficking are more commonly assumed to be women and children.
Major players
With smugglers operating from numerous countries across the globe, there are myriad minor and major players within the people smuggling scene. Of wide and notable repute, however, are the Snakeheads and Coyotes, which operate in the business of smuggling Chinese and Mexican migrants, respectively.
The name "Snakehead" refers to those underground players who operate in facilitating the illicit transport of Chinese migrants into countries like the United States and other Western countries. (The name originates from the fact that the lines of emigrants sneaking under borders is said to look like a snake.) Operating in an extensive transnational black market, Snakeheads reap considerable profits from their smuggling operations and both are regarded and consider themselves not as criminals but as resourceful guides. The earliest snakeheads went into business around the 1970s ferrying customers from Fuzhou or Changle into Hong Kong. Today, Snakehead operations have expanded enormously into other countries; however, the majority of Snakehead customers still originate from the Fujian province in China. One of the most notable Snakeheads was Sister Ping, who ran a successful and extensive smuggling operation in New York from 1984 to 2000, when she was finally caught by authorities following the disaster involving the Golden Venture.[17]
"Coyotes" is the name for smugglers who facilitate the migration of people across the Mexico–United States[18] and Bolivia–Chile borders.[19] Another term used for minors who smuggle people across the Mexico–United States border is "polleros".[20] Once dominated by local smugglers charging relatively small sums, the business landscape has changed as larger, well-organized syndicates have entered the smuggling industry in Mexico. Over the years, Coyotes have become more sophisticated in their operations, as technological advances have allowed them to streamline and add further complexity to their business.
Facts and figures
Virtually every country in the world is affected by people smuggling, be it in the capacity of country of origin, transit, or destination. While reliable data is scarce, experts note that "current estimates place the number of irregular migrants worldwide at up to thirty million and that a substantial proportion of these persons can be expected to have used the services of smugglers at one or more points in their journey".[21]
People smuggling between the United States and Mexico is a booming business that, as of 2003, garnered over $5billion a year.[22] Similarly, in the EU, profits from people smuggling operations is estimated to be around €4billion per year.
People smuggling is a dangerous operation and has frequently resulted in the death of those individuals being smuggled. In 2004, 464 recorded deaths took place during the crossing from Mexico to the United States, and each year, an estimated 2000 people drown in the Mediterranean on the journey from Africa into Europe.[23]
On 14 September 2018, US media reported that Jacklyn, a seven-year-old girl from Guatemala, had died while in custody of US Customs.[24] The girl's family denied she did not have enough food to eat before she died.[25]
Estimated number of smuggled individuals
Because of the clandestine nature of people smuggling operations, information currently available is scattered and incomplete. As such, verifiable or even reliable figures are difficult, if not impossible to come by, and the data on the number of smuggled individuals is tenuous at best. However, as of 2005, it was estimated that upwards of 350,000 illegal immigrants are smuggled across America's border from Mexico each year, and as many as 800,000 enter the European Union.[23]
Estimated costs
Smugglers' fees vary from destination to destination, but on the whole, they have risen dramatically over the years. The prices paid to human smugglers by immigrants vary depending on the geographic location. For border crossings such as from Mexico into the United States, human smugglers can charge up to $4,000, while trans-Pacific crossings of, for example, Chinese immigrants into the United States can cost up to $75,000.[26] These prices are significantly steeper than they were a decade ago, as demand for smuggling services continues to rise, operations become more complex, and costs of smuggling individuals become higher.
Criminal elements
People smuggling – specifically migrant smuggling – constitutes criminal conduct. However, criminal elements of smuggling may reach beyond the sphere of human smuggling. In a testimony before Congress, William D. Cadman – INS counterterrorism coordinator – stated, "Organized crime syndicates...are known to use alien-smuggling operations to support and further their criminal objectives".[27]
Given the dangerous and clandestine criminal nature of people smuggling operations, smuggled persons are sometimes at risk of becoming victims of other crimes. Aside from subjection to unsafe conditions in their journeys to their destinations, smuggled individuals may also be subject to physical or sexual abuse or placed in hostage-like conditions until their debts are paid off. Others might face exploitation or be forced to participate in other criminal activities during their journey as smuggled individuals. Because smuggling can generate substantial profits for those involved, which in turn can fuel corruption and organized crime in countries traveled from, through, or to during the smuggling process.
Countries that have ratified the Migrant Smuggling Protocol are obligated to ensure migrant smuggling offences are criminal in their national laws. The UN has produced a Model Law that sets out minimum and recommended provisions for national laws on migrant smuggling. This includes model criminal offence provisions (see further, UNODC, Model Law against the Smuggling of Migrants).[28]
Drug trafficking
Given the clandestine but booming nature of people smuggling operations – especially in places like Mexico – drug cartels have also begun tapping into the smuggling network. Cartels have made money not only by taxing Coyotes but also directly engaging in the business of smuggling. In the late 1990s, Mexican drug cartels began initially moving into people smuggling by taxing Coyotes for leading bands of smuggled people across cartel-controlled territory. As these drug cartels have gotten more directly involved, however, they are beginning to play a more central role in the business of people smuggling and often exploit individuals – seen as human cargo – and using them by loading them up with backpacks full of marijuana. Sometimes, the costs of the expensive journey may be defrayed as migrants serve as "mules", carrying drugs out of Mexico.[29]
The questions of whether smuggling groups or syndicates would smuggle two different types of contraband at the same time (Multiple Consignment Contraband) (MCC) has been debated within and between law enforcement and intelligence analysts. Furthermore, if this type of smuggling is occurring, which types of MCC are most likely to be bundled together and which type of smuggling group (defined by level of sophistication) would engage in MCC and which regions in the world are most likely to be confronted with MCC also has been discussed by these analysts.[30] The Lichtenwald, Perri and MacKenzie article identified sixteen cases of different smuggling groups smuggling more than one type of contraband at the same time. Four of the sixteen cases involved MCC human and drug smuggling. Three of the four MCC human and drug smuggling organizations were targeting the United States of America.
Law enforcement and discouragement
Thus far, global efforts to curb and stymie the growing tide of smuggled individuals have been largely focused on the apprehension and deportation of individual migrants. Little has been done in the way of dismantling the organizations behind the business of people smuggling. According to the UNODC, "[t]ackling migrant smuggling necessitates a comprehensive, multi-dimensional response, which begins with addressing the socio-economic root causes of irregular migration to prevent it, and goes through to prosecution of criminals who commit smuggling-related crimes".[31] At the same time, scientific studies on the counterproductive aspects of security policies have shown "how smugglers, as a category of actors playing a specific part in the global migration process, are directly manufactured by the migration policies".[32]
Other proposals include focusing not on banning or trying to stifle the smuggling industry, but on undercutting it. Michael Jandl from the International Center for Migration Policy Development, an intergovernmental think-tank based in Vienna, has suggested that governments issue temporary visas in the smugglers' best markets at fees priced to compete with the smugglers' rates. Under this proposed plan, one-third of the visa fee could be returned to immigrants upon their departure, and opportunities to purchase additional visas in the future would be available for those who did not break any rules.[23]
Frozen River (2008), a film about two working-class women smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada to the US in order to make ends meet
Related Research Articles
Organized crime is a category of transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated. Many criminal organizations rely on fear or terror to achieve their goals or aims as well as to maintain control within the organization and may adopt tactics commonly used by authoritarian regimes to maintain power. Some forms of organized crime simply exist to cater towards demand of illegal goods in a state or to facilitate trade of goods and services that may have been banned by a state. Sometimes, criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts protection money from shopkeepers. Street gangs may often be deemed organized crime groups or, under stricter definitions of organized crime, may become disciplined enough to be considered organized. A criminal organization can also be referred to as an outfit, a gang, crime family, mafia, mob, (crime) ring, or syndicate; the network, subculture, and community of criminals involved in organized crime may be referred to as the underworld or gangland. Sociologists sometimes specifically distinguish a "mafia" as a type of organized crime group that specializes in the supply of extra-legal protection and quasi-law enforcement. Academic studies of the original "Mafia", the Italian Mafia, as well as its American counterpart, generated an economic study of organized crime groups and exerted great influence on studies of the Russian mafia, the Chinese triads, the Hong Kong triads, and the Japanese yakuza.
Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, social scientists define smuggling as the purposeful movement across a border in contravention to the relevant legal frameworks.
The illegal drug trade, drug trafficking, or narcotrafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through the use of drug prohibition laws. The think tank Global Financial Integrity's Transnational Crime and the Developing World report estimates the size of the global illicit drug market between US$426 and US$652billion in 2014 alone. With a world GDP of US$78 trillion in the same year, the illegal drug trade may be estimated as nearly 1% of total global trade. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespread globally, and it remains very difficult for local authorities to reduce the rates of drug consumption.
Forced displacement is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations".
The Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000. It is also referred to as the Smuggling Protocol. It is one of the three Palermo protocols, the others being the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition.
Snakeheads are Chinese gangs that smuggle people to other countries. They are found in the Fujian region of China and smuggle their customers into wealthier Western countries such as those in Western Europe, North America, Australia, and some nearby wealthier regions such as Taiwan and Japan.
Illegal immigration, or unauthorized immigration, occurs when foreign nationals, known as aliens, violate US immigration laws by entering the United States unlawfully, or by lawfully entering but then remaining after the expiration of their visas, parole or temporary protected status.
The Mexican drug war is an ongoing asymmetric armed conflict between the Mexican government and various drug trafficking syndicates. When the Mexican military intervened in 2006, the government's main objective was to reduce drug-related violence. The Mexican government has asserted that their primary focus is dismantling the cartels and preventing drug trafficking. The conflict has been described as the Mexican theater of the global war on drugs, as led by the United States federal government.
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.
Child migration or "children in migration or mobility" is the movement of people ages 3–18 within or across political borders, with or without their parents or a legal guardian, to another country or region. They may travel with or without legal travel documents. They may arrive to the destination country as refugees, asylum seekers, or economic migrants.
Colloquially, a coyote is a person who smuggles immigrants across the Mexico–United States border. The word "coyote" is a loanword from Mexican Spanish that usually refers to a species of North American wild dog (Canis latrans).
Human trafficking is the trade of humans, most commonly for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. Mexico is a large source, transit, and destination country for victims of human trafficking.
Djibouti is a transit and, to a lesser extent, a source and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to trafficking in people, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. There is little verifiable data on the human trafficking situation in Djibouti. An estimated 150 000 voluntary economic migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia passed illegally through Djibouti en route to Yemen and other locations in the Middle East in 2022; among this group, a small number of women and girls may fall victim to involuntary domestic servitude or forced commercial sexual exploitation after reaching Djibouti City or the Ethiopia-Djibouti trucking corridor. An unknown number of migrants – men, women, and children – are subjected to conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution after reaching Yemen and other destinations in the Middle East. Djibouti's large refugee population – consisting of Somalis, Ethiopians, and Eritreans – as well as foreign street children remain vulnerable to various forms of exploitation within the country, including human trafficking. Older street children reportedly act, at times, as pimps for younger children. A small number of girls from impoverished Djiboutian families may engage in prostitution with the encouragement of family members or other people in prostitution. Members of foreign militaries stationed in Djibouti contribute to the demand for women and girls in prostitution, including trafficking victims.
Anne Therese Gallagher is an Australian lawyer who since 2019 has been the Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation. She is a former President (2018-2022) of the International Catholic Migration Commission, Co-Chair of the International Bar Association’s Presidential Task Force on Human Trafficking, and member of the Asia Dialogue on Forced Migration. She is considered to be an international authority on transnational criminal law, migration and human rights and, according to the 2012 Trafficking in Persons Report prepared by the United States Department of State, is 'the leading global expert on the international law on human trafficking’.
Human trafficking in Texas is the illegal trade of human beings as it occurs in the state of Texas. It is a modern-day form of slavery and usually involves commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor, both domestic and agricultural.
Human trafficking in California is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor as it occurs in the state of California. Human trafficking, widely recognized as a modern-day form of slavery, includes
"the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."
Operation Coyote was a United States Department of Homeland Security 90-day effort to track and seize revenue generated by Mexican cartels in the human smuggling trade along the Mexico–United States border.
Human Trafficking or "trafficking in persons" is the recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for mainly the purposes of forced labor or prostitution. Other reasons for human trafficking are the removal of organs, forced marriage, and other exploitations. South America is one of the biggest source and destination locations in the world and has struggled with the issue for many years. The ILO estimates that of the 20.9 million victims of human trafficking in 2012, 1.8 million were from Latin America. There are many factors that cause human trafficking, like a high demand for domestic servants, sex laborers, and factory workers, the existence of already established trafficking networks that often take advantage of young women and children, corruption in the governments and local law enforcement agencies, a governmental disinterest in the issue and a lack of opportunity for women in South American regions where trafficking occurs. People exploited in human trafficking are often impoverished, members of indigenous peoples, unemployed, victims of abuse, illiterate, substance users, homeless, or involved in gang activity. Research by the United States Department of State has also found that LGBTQ+ people are vulnerable to human trafficking. By far, sex trafficking is the leading type of human trafficking, making up 79 percent of all human trafficking. This is then followed by forced labor at 18 percent. About 20 percent of trafficking victims are children. Primary destinations for trafficking and illegal immigration are the United States, Spain, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Canada. Globalization, capitalism and societal attitudes facilitate and reduce the barriers to human trafficking.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2240 (2015) was adopted by the UN Security Council on 9 October 2015. Fourteen members of the Council voted in favor, while only Venezuela abstained. The resolution aims to address human insecurity at sea and is an example of how the UN Security Council uses its power in the maritime domain to enhance maritime security.
Zouxian is the phenomenon of Mainland Chinese migrants entering the United States through its southwestern border with Mexico. The phenomenon became more prominent in the early 2020s. In 2021, at the Darién gap, the Panamanian police counted 200 Mainland Chinese migrants; in contrast, in the first half of 2022, close to 9,000 Mainland Chinese migrants made the crossing.
↑ Brachet, Julien (2018). "Manufacturing Smugglers: From Irregular to Clandestine Mobility in the Sahara'". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 676 (1): 16–35. doi:10.1177/0002716217744529. S2CID150007646.
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