Smugglers who cheat migrants: rule or exception

Abstract

This article, based on a qualitative methodology that includes in-depth interviews with 90 migrant smugglers, 20 procurers and 60 immigrants from Central America, examines the smugglers who cheat migrants. The results of this research indicate that many migrant smugglers only have the purpose to rob, kidnap or abandon migrants; that sex trafficking networks, which operate with some degree of deception, are growing; and that more and more migrant smugglers leave this industry, voluntarily or involuntarily, to join drug cartels. However, the main conclusion from the discourse of the interviewees is that there are more smugglers who lead migrants safe and sound to the United States than those who attack and do not care about them.