People smuggling
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] Internationally, the term is understood as and often used interchangeably with migrant smuggling, which is defined in the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as "...the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a state party of which the person is not a national".
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.
[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, more commonly, smugglers engage and do business within a larger smuggling network where there is a division of work among the actors involved.
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".
[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.
For routes that are well-known and tested, smugglers may function more as family enterprises and utilize fairly contained operations.
In general, the infrastructure of the people smuggling business is nontraditional, with no clearly identifiable organization and no rigid structure.
Generally speaking, human trafficking involves transporting individuals from one place to another either against their will or under some sort of false pretense.
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.
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.
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.
[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.
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".
[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.
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.
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.
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".
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.
In January 2025, the UK introduced 'world first' sanctions regime against people smugglers by cutting off the illicit financing that fuels their operations.
