The profession of migrant smuggler

Abstract

The profession of smuggler of migrants looking for employment in the United States started at the end of the XIXth century because of the change from a liberal to a restrictive immigration policy. Migrant smugglers are an increasingly important piece of the Mexican-American migratory system. Stringent border control policies and the stalking of migrants by Mexican criminal groups have made migrants dependents of smugglers; however, there is a lack of knowledge of this profession. This paper, based on a qualitative methodology that includes in-depth interviews with one hundred Mexican migrant smugglers, conducted between april 2008 and july 2012, examines the learning process of this profession and describes the circumstances that have conducted them to this activity.