Latest news and statistics about human smuggling and the violation of immigration laws. Facts about illegal immigration collected from government agencies, immigration assistance organizations and lawyers, and news articles.
In 2012, the United States Border Patrol apprehended 24,481 minors who were attempting to cross the border between the US and Mexico without an adult companion. The number of children apprehended in 2012 was three times the number of children caught in 2008.
In the state of Texas, between 80 to 120 children cross into the state illegally and without an adult each day.
Source: Pamela M. Prah, “Tally of kids entering US illegally, and alone, is surging,” Arizona Daily Star, May 13, 2013.
Haitian migrants are paying human smugglers between $1,000 to $1,500 to be smuggled into the US territory of Puerto Rico. The migrants are targeting the island because it is much easier to enter the United States illegally once they are in US territory.
(Prices charged by human smugglers.)
The United States Coast Guard stated that it has captured 352 Haitian migrants who were attempted to smuggle into Puerto Rico in the first half of 2013. In comparison, between October 2010 to September 2011, the US Coast Guard captured 13 Haitian migrants.
Source: Associated Press, “More Haitians Using Puerto Rico As Migrant Route,” NPR, May 6, 2013.
Each year, up to 12,000 people from China are smuggled into the United States without the proper documentation, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Each migrant is believed to have paid up to $50,000 to a human smuggler in order to be smuggled into the United States, creating a $600 Million human smuggling industry in China.
Source: “Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacific: A Threat Assessment,” UNODC, April 2013, Executive Summary, page v.
Migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos reportedly pay human smugglers up to $192 Million a year in order to be smuggled into Thailand. Most of the revenue for smugglers is generated from Myanmar, where migrants pays an estimated $183 Million to human smugglers to bring them into Thailand. Migrants from Cambodia pay $4.7 Million, and people from Laos pay $4.3 Million to the smugglers.
The United Nations estimates that over 500,000 people are smuggled into Thailand each year.
(Prices paid to human smugglers.)
Source: “Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacific: A Threat Assessment,” UNODC, April 2013, Executive Summary, page iv.
Travel agencies in Romania were accused by prosecutors are being human smuggling rings to bring people into the United States and Canada from Mexico.
The agents would first send Romanians to Mexico due to the lack of visa requirement. From Mexico, the migrants then paid $8,000 in order to be illegally smuggled into the United States or Canada.
According to prosecutors in Romania, around 600 people used the various travel agencies to book flights. 300 of the travelers were found illegally in the United States.
Source: Associated Press, “Romania: Trafficking Ring to US, Canada Broken Up,” ABC News, March 26, 2013.
In 2012, US Border Patrol Agents at the border of Arizona and Mexico arrested 126,500 migrants who were attempting to enter the United States illegally from Mexico. The number of captures was 78 percent lower than the 577,000 migrants apprehended in 2005.
Between 2005 to 2012, the United States Government increased its security personnel in the Southwest. The number of Border Patrol agents in the region doubled during the time frame to over 18,000 agents. The Customs and Border Patrol Agency also increased its air fleet, where it has over 260 aircraft operating in 2012.
Border Security Officials in the US state that most migrants in 2012 rarely attempt to cross the border without the hiring a human smuggler.
Source: Julia Preston, “Arizona Border Quiets After Gains in Security,” New York Times, March 15, 2013.
The Ethiopia Embassy in Kenya stated that its citizens were detained in Kenya after being caught up in a human smuggling scheme.
The embassy reported that people were paying human smugglers $2,715 (50,000 Ethipoian Birr) to be smuggled from Ethiopia to South Africa. Instead, the smugglers were apprehended in Kenya by immigration officials.
Source: “Ethiopia: Embassy Working to Repatriate Ethiopian Victims of Trafficking,” allAfrica, February 26, 2013.
Human smugglers were paying luxury yacht owners to bring in illegal immigrants into the United Kingdom, immigration officials reported.
Immigrants from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan were paying the human smuggling ring between $3,162 to $9,487 (£2,000 to £6,000) per person to be smuggled into the United Kingdom .
In the 2012 Fiscal Year, immigration enforcement services in the UK apprehended 9,000 people who were attempting to cross the Channel illegally.
Source: Anthony Bond, “Moment immigrant is arrested in crackdown against human trafficking as it is revealed luxury yacht owners are being paid to smuggle people into Britain,” Daily Mail, February 6, 2013.
In addition to smuggling illegal immigrants in to the United Kingdom, human smugglers also move people out of the country.
According to the BBC’s Panorama program, smugglers charge immigrants up to $2,373 (£1,500) to transport people out of the UK and bring them to the French port city of Calais. The immigrants them move on to other countries within the European Union.
(Price rate for human smugglers.)
Source: Kevin Rawlinson, “Criminal gangs are smuggling immigrants out of the UK,” Independent, January 21, 2013.
The United States Department of Justice announced that a husband and wife couple were smuggling people from Brazil into the United States for $16,000. The couple would create a cover story of the illegal migrants being tourists, and transported the people from Brazil to Paris, London, Bahamas and then by boat to the United States.
(See more human smugglers prices.)
Source: “Brazilian Husband and Wife Plead Guilty in Florida to Human Smuggling,” United States Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Press Release, January 16, 2013.
