Critical Perspectives on Clandestine Migration Facilitation: An Overview of Migrant Smuggling Research

Stuck in Motion: Inhabiting the Space of Transit in Central American Migration

“…Focusing on the coyote obscures how U.S. border policy intentionally funnels people toward death (De León 2015). Smugglers are blamed for the tragedies migrants suffer (Izcara Palacios 2017b; Sanchez 2017b, 9) and heightened and violent deterrent and enforcement mechanisms are adopted under the pretext of protecting innocent migrants from bad coyotes (Pickering 2004; Vogt 2018, 4). Many scholars also reproduce this discourse, framing smuggling as inherently exploitative while ignoring how the necessity of their function is inextricably tied to the failure of states to truly protect migrants (Sanchez 2017a, 54; see also García Vázquez, Gaxiola Baqueiro, and Guajardo Díaz 2007 for a glaring, uncritical example of work framed to “expose abuses of polleros”).…”

“…The division between good, innocent migrants and dangerous polleros is complicated by the fact that many polleros were once—and continue to be—migrants (Sanchez 2017b, 13). With multiple, frustrated trips and intermittent deportations, the knowledge of how to cross Mexico becomes a valuable kind of capital.…”

The digital routes of human smuggling? Evidence from the UK

“…It is important to mention that Smuggler 1 emphasised that often, recruitment took place offline, as people who knew them either directly or indirectly, through friends or relatives, and their occupation as a smuggler would initiate contact in person and make enquiries on how to travel to the UK for themselves or for their relatives. According to Sanchez (2017), those seeking to migrate explore potential options usually by consulting friends and relatives who have made and undertaken successful smuggling journeys, often meeting with smugglers in person or chatting via telephone and may meet several smugglers until a suitable option is chosen. Moreover, a small number of smugglers manage to form a client base and positive reputation attesting to the reliability, degree of communication throughout the journey and the quality of the transportation, all of which contribute to the duration of a smuggling enterprise, enabling smugglers to generate and conduct business with prospective customers.…”

“…This takes place via a smuggler-to-smuggler approach that does not allow irregular migrants to be lost (see Içduygu and Toktas, 2002). Smugglers often unwittingly 'collaborate' with other smugglers while not known to one another, as they may live and operate in different villages, cities, regions, and countries (see, for example, Sanchez, 2017). In the event of arrest of one of the smugglers, or if the chain is sometimes broken during the journey (e.g., due to policing operations), other individuals, groups and networks that have no connection with the smugglers of the initial stage, take over in the smuggling of migrants.…”

“…A number of characteristics of smugglers as they emerge from the research literature are likely to be of significance in this respect. For example, smugglers tend to share national and cultural backgrounds with their clients and they tend to capitalise on familial or friendship ties; they also tend to be members of relatively marginalised, working class, low income communities; smuggling requires no special or technical skills, but rather social connections and resourcefulness (for an overview, see Sanchez, 2017). These characteristics may pose limits to both the availability and the actual usefulness of ICT resources to the conduct of the smuggling business-or to put it in different terms, the nature of the business may not require the extensive and intensive use of sophisticated ICT resources and methods that corporate service providers use.…”