The Human Smuggling market is estimated to be $20 billion.

Source: Andrew Bast, “Snakeheads for Hire,” Newsweek, July 20, 2009.

Between 2007 and 2008, a human smuggling gang was smuggling people from Iraq into the United Kingdom and charging $10,500 (7,500 British Pounds) a person. The gang, who authorities believe smuggled 1,000 people into the country, would often charge up to $21,000 (14,000 British Pounds) to people who were desperate to leave Iraq.

Source:  Peter Allen, “‘Baghdad ring’ of people-smugglers ‘helped hundreds of migrants sneak into Britain’ ,” Telegraph, March 4, 2010.

In 2009, 480 illegal immigrants from countries in Asia and Africa were arrested in Colombia as the country became a staging area for human smugglers on their way into the United States.

Source:  Sibylla Brodzinsky, “Colombia becomes new hub for human smuggling into US,” Christian Science Monitor, February 22, 2010.

In Fiscal Year 2008, 30 Chinese immigrants were caught at the US-Mexico border in Arizona. In FY 2009, 332 were caught in the same area. Within the first three months of FY 2010, 281 Chinese immigrants were caught.

Source:  Stephen Ceasar, “In Arizona, a Stream of Illegal Immigrants From China,” New York Times, January 22, 2010.

At the start of 2010, the average price to be smuggled into the United States from Mexico was between $1,500 and $3,000, while the average price to be smuggled into the United States from China was $40,000.

Source:  Stephen Ceasar, “In Arizona, a Stream of Illegal Immigrants From China,” New York Times, January 22, 2010.

In Fiscal Year 2009, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 430 people attempting to smuggle by sea, compared to 230 in 2008.

Of the 430 arrested, 47 were smuggling drugs, 25 were smuggling people, and 358 were illegal immigrants.

Source:  Kristina Davis, “The struggle vs. sea smugglers,” San Diego Union Tribune, December 12, 2009.

In 2009, the US Federal Government deported 136,000 with criminal convictions from the country. At the end of the year, an estimated 560,000 “fugitive aliens” were at large.

Source:  “US federal agents arrest 286 ‘illegal aliens’ ,” BBC News, December 12, 2009.

Between August 2008 to October 2009, around 40 boats carrying 2,000 people were intercepted while traveling to Australia from Indonesia.  Many of those attempting to be smuggled were from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan.

Source:  Naila Firdausi and Achmad Sukarsono, “Indonesia, Australia Boost Cooperation Against People Smuggling,” Bloomberg, October 20, 2009.

The border fence between the United States and Mexico has been breached 3,363 times since it building began in 2005 till September 2009.

Source: Daniel B. Wood, “Billions for a US-Mexico border fence, but is it doing any good?,” Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 2009.

In the first 9 months of 2009, US Border Patrol Agents in Tuscon, Arizona arrested 261 Chinese citizens attempting to illegally enter the United States.

Between 2005 and 2009, an average of 32 Chinese citizens were arrested on at the US-Mexico border.

Source:  Sebastian Rotella, “In Arizona desert, illegal immigration’s mysterious spike,” Chicago Tribune, October 3, 2009.