Smuggling Women for Sex Work in North America: The Smugglers' Perspective

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyse why, in a context of a shrinking market for human smuggling, smuggling of women for sex work in the North American region has expanded. Based on interviews with 52 Mexican smugglers who have transported women for the sex trade in the United States, this article concludes that the growth in the smuggling of women for sex work responds principally to an economic logic. In addition, caravans of Central American migrants have fuelled this industry.