Transportation

From WolfWikis

Human Smuggling versus Human Trafficking

To the general public, human trafficking is a very loose concept, which may also include other issues such as people smuggling and migration. However, attempts have been made to differentiate human trafficking from human smuggling.

Human Smuggling

"Smuggling of human beings may be defined as the transportation of people to countries for which they lack visas or the necessary entry permits in order to obtain a financial or other material benefit." (p.10 Poverty and Trafficking in Human Beings) Smuggling of human beings is consented by the smuggled person, and involves payment by the smuggled person. In general, those who choose to be smuggled, are "illegal immigrants who are in search of opportunities to improve their lives."(p.106 Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: All Roads Lead to America)

Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is essentially the same as human smuggling, yet involves "elements of coercion and fraud." The purpose of human trafficking is for the exploitation of the immigrants. There are, for the most part, two forms of trafficking activities; sex trafficking, and trafficking for the purpose of involuntary servitude; both of which generally involve the use of force, coercion and fraud.

Source, Transit, and Destination Countries

Trafficking routes.

Trafficking in human beings occurs inside countries, across state borders, and between continents. For the most part, in Latin America, human trafficking is related to sex trade, however, there is evidence of human trafficking being used for exploiting the mining industry, agriculture, forestry, domestic service, drug trade, and even trafficking in children for adoption. Primary countries of origin for human trafficking in Latin America include Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Primary destination countries in Latin America include Argentina, Venezuela and Costa Rica, while primary destinations from outside of Latin America include the United States and Canada.

Also, Latin American countries are not only destination or source countries for trafficking or smuggling of humans, yet, may also be used as "transit" countries, where access into the destined country may be easier by going through certain Latin American countries.

Process

Once traffickers have control of a victim, the traffickers generally undergo "any and all means to ensure their cooperation: typically drugs, violence (including sexual assault), threats to victim's families, and threats to turn victims over to unsympathetic local authorities." Any identifying papers of the victims are generally seized by the traffickers in order to ensure cooperation. Victims may be blindfolded, or otherwise prevented from seeing during transportation between safe-houses, cities, or countries. (p.64 Trafficking of Women and Children in the International Sex Trade)

Human smuggling, being consented, is not "forced trafficking." It must be noted that "the means of transportation, the use of way-stations and safe houses, the price of a trip, the conditions of travel, and the immigration status upon arrival can vary significantly from one smuggler to another."

Types of Immigration

Legal-Legal	An immigrant enters a country through completely legal means.
Illegal-Legal	An immigrant enters a country illegally through a legal process by means of fraudulent identification or documentation.
Legal-Illegal	An immigrant enters a country legally, yet then becomes illegal when they do not return to their home country as may be required.
Illegal-Illegal (Individual)	An immigrant, without assistance by organizations or other groups, crosses a country's border illegally.
Illegal-Illegal (Indentured)	An immigrant, with assistance by an organization or other group, crosses a country's border illegally.
Legal-Legal	An immigrant legally enters a country with the assistance of some organization or other group.
Internal "Migration"	A native "migrates" across "political borders." Generally from a rural area to urban.

(p. 25 Illegal Immigration and Commercial Sex)

"Legal" Methods

Two primary methods of granting immigrants access to countries are through marriage fraud and non-immigrant visas.

Marriage Fraud

In several countries, marriage fraud is a very popular method of immigration by legal means. In the United States, for example, the spouse of a U.S. citizen is considered to be an "immediate relative," therefore an immigrant married to a U.S. citizen would be exempt from quota limitations. The process of finalizing such marriages may sometimes require a lot of work, since the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services has to approve of the marriage for the immigrant to be granted the desired freedoms. The major advantage of fraudulent marriages was that it only required "one-time accomplices," where once they were through with the process, the spouses did not need to see each other again. However, attempts to combat such exploitation of legal policy were negated by the implementation of a two-year conditional residency status, where after two years of marriage, the couple is required, again, to prove to the CIS that their marriage is a valid.

Non-immigrant Visas

Another popular method of entry, specifically into the United States, is by way of non-immigrant visas, which allow migrants admission into the country.

Commonly Exploited Non-immigrant Visas

• B1: Temporary visitor for business
• B2: Temporary visitor for pleasure
• F1: Foreign student
• H1: Special occupation
• H3: Trainee
• J1: Exchange scholar
• L1: Intracompany transferee

(p. 33 Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings)

B1 and B2 visas are the most commonly exploited. B1 visas are for business activities, and B2 visas are for tourists. In order to gain such visas, the applicants must prove that they are permanent residents of their home country and are merely visiting the United States. Due to this, the "smuggling business" has developed a sort of guide to maintaining a successful passage through inspections:

Always have a round-trip ticket, with a specific return date (usually well within the period that the visa is valid). Always have business cards that identify one's employment affiliations. Always have a detailed story to explain what the trip is about--for instance, negotiating a contract, inspecting a piece of machinery, or signing a contract. Have a copy of the invitation letter and other business communication from a business in the United States. Have a story about how many tasks are waiting for you at home and how you wish you could stay a few more days just to relax and sightsee. For tourists, have a vacation plan and an itinerary with hotel bookings as well as continuous airline tickets. Carry enough cash to demonstrate that you are financially well-off, plus a few credit cards in your wallet. Have a copy of hotel reservations indicating where you will be staying.

(p. 34 Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings)

Illegal Methods

Two primary methods of granting illegal entry into another country are through counterfeit documentation and physical smuggling across borders.

Passports.

Counterfeit Documentation

Counterfeit documentation can be divided into two major categories: forged documents, and genuine documents under false identities.

For example, passport fraud includes either:

1. an altered passport (photo substitution is the most common),
2. an all-together fake passport,
3. false identity using a genuine passport or,
4. a stolen or purchased passport.

Transporting

Instead of dealing with the deception of authorities through counterfeit documents or "legal" loopholes, illegal immigrants may simply choose to simply cross the border. The three ways of crossing national borders are by land, sea, and air.

Mexico/United States border.

Land

Land transportation may include trekking across the border on foot, or could include transportation by vehicle across borders. If an immigrant going from Guatemala to Mexico chooses to go by foot, they "often hitch hike or hop on freight trains heading north." Immigrants crossing the United States/Mexico border by foot will generally make use of polleros, navigators, and then meet up with smugglers at pre-determined rendezvous points. Additionally, immigrants may seek transportation by way of vehicle. Transfer across borders by vehicle may be more risky, in a legal sense, due to the fact that often times (in the United States) the drivers themselves are also illegal immigrants, and therefore, lack legal driving documentation. Obviously, transfer by vehicle requires drivers, and a vehicle. Therefore, in San Diego, for example, U.S. citizens leaving casinos are sometimes targets for hire to drive immigrants across the United States/Mexico border.

Sea

Sea transportation requires much more involvement than simply walking across the border by land, and therefore is less commonly practiced in comparison to land travel. Traveling across borders by sea requires no travel documents. However, due to large distances, multiple networks of smuggling organizations may be required. Some additional problems that smuggling organizations must face are securing vessels, and hiring professionals who know how to operate and maintain the equipment used in transferal. Sometimes immigrants may use vessels which can hardly be considered vessels in order to cross borders by sea. Yet, wealthier smuggling organizations may lease sail boats in order to illegally transfer immigrants across borders.

Air

Air travel is the least dangerous method of transferal for immigrants, yet generally requires much wealth. Immigrants who make use of air travel generally require documentation, however, there have been a few cases where immigrants hid in certain parts of airplanes to achieve entry into another country. Due to the fact that most immigrant transfer by air requires so much documentation, many of the methods of air travel coincide with the various illegal and legal documentation methods of entry.

Illegal fishing boat.

Ensuring Trafficker Security

In order to run such trafficking enterprises, the traffickers generally must come to some sort of agreement with local authorities in which the profits are generally shared in order to protect the traffickers from being punished by law. Some cases of trafficking into the United States from Latin America include the trafficking of women and children from Honduras to Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas and from Mexico to Florida. In 2003, domestic trafficking in Brazil was estimated to be 100,000 women and children bought and sold within the country every year.

Migration in Latin America

In an issue of National Geographic, 2003 (p. 136 The Ongoing Tragedy of International Slavery and Human Trafficking: An Overview), in reference to Tecún Umán, Guatemala: "Here migrants from Central America gather to cross into Mexico on their way north. Those with valid travel documents for Mexico cross the bridge over the river; those without them pay a few cents to be ferried across on rafts made from tractor inner tubes." Due to wars in the 1980s and '90s, and natural disasters such as hurricane Mitch, and the ruin of the Central American coffee industry, many people have been left homeless and unemployed. Perhaps also due to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), many people tried moving north. Many migrants arrive in Tecún Umán completely poor, making them easy prey for people smugglers. A Brazilian Jesuit who runs a safe haven for migrants in Tecún Umán called Casa del Migrante, warns migrants about "the bosses in Mexico who may take their precious documents and force them into slavery on remote plantations." (p. 79 The Ongoing Tragedy of International Slavery and Human Trafficking: An Overview)

Annotated Bibliography

• Poverty and Trafficking in Human Beings: A strategy for combating trafficking in human beings through Swedish international development cooperation http://www.sweden.gov.se/content/1/c6/02/02/62/3819f9a2.pdf (November 25th, 2007)

This source provided me with a very simple definition for human trafficking and people smuggling. The source didn't really contain much more useful information other than that, in terms of the transportation of humans.

• Trafficking of women and children in the international sex trade : hearing before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Sixth Congress, first session, September 14, 1999. (Article). The Global Problem of Trafficking in Persons: Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Assistant Secretary of State, Harold Hongju Koh. September 14th, 1999. (November 25th, 2007)

This source explained some of the process in the transport of human beings, and also defined human trafficking.

• The ongoing tragedy of international slavery and human trafficking : an overview : hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and Wellness of the Committee on Government Reform, House of Representatives, One Hundred Eighth Congress, first session, October 29, 2003. (Article). (November 25th, 2007)

This source helped to define some of the background as to why people chose to be transported to other countries. It also explained a little about some of the problems the immigrants face in deciding to be smuggled.

• Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: All Roads Lead to America (Book). Sheldon X. Zhang. 2007. (November 25th, 2007)

This source was most useful, and provided me with distinction between people smuggling and human trafficking, and also with many other details in the process of smuggling and trafficking of humans.

• Illegal Immigration and Commercial Sex The New Slave Trade (Book). Phil Williams. 1999. (November 27th, 2007)

This source provided me with some generic details about transit countries and also about types of immigrants.