Criminal Law: Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking
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Background of the Study
Human smuggling and human trafficking have been going on for centuries and are still prevalent in modern society. These crimes can occur at both international and domestic levels. According to Smuggling & Center (2006), human trafficking and human smuggling are not synonymous, although most people use them interchangeably. Human trafficking entails forcefully moving people across borders. Slavery, a legacy of the imperial and colonial period, saw people’s trafficking from the African continent into America and other western countries against their will.
On the other hand, human smuggling is slightly different from human trafficking as the individuals are not forced but engage in human smuggling crime on their own accord (Smuggling & Center, 2006). According to Bonmati (2016), human smuggling crime has been rising every decade as people flee their countries into others for various reasons, such as war or employment opportunities. The two crimes, therefore, have similarities even though they are different in various aspects.
Both human trafficking and human smuggling apply to the State of Texas. This State is close to the Mexican-US border, one of the international borders that are most crossed. Texas also has an extremely diverse population. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, about 25% of individuals trafficked into the United States annually get into the country through Texas. About a quarter of all the individuals trafficked in the United States are found in Texas at any given time (Busch-Armendariz et al., 2016). The National Human Trafficking Hotline also reports that close to a third of the calls they receive are from Texas. Human trafficking is, therefore, very prevalent in Texas. This paper seeks to examine the prevalence of these crimes in Texas. It seeks to determine which of the two crimes is more prevalent in Texas and the victims’ characteristics.
Literature Review
Introduction
This section entails a review of some of the existing studies on human trafficking and smuggling crimes. It begins by outlining similarities and differences between the two, as identified by various researchers and scholars. It then gives an analysis of human trafficking and human smuggling in the State of Texas.
Similarities between Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling
Human trafficking and human smuggling are both run by underground organizations. According to Aronowitz, 2001, smuggling and trafficking chain organization vary dramatically. It can be straightforward, such as putting individuals in the back of the track or business segmented involving different departments or very complex by involving many people. There are minor and major players in the smuggling and trafficking business. The smuggling industry’s leading players are snakeheads and coyotes (Gallagher & David, 2014, 5). Snakeheads refer to those people that are underground players and facilitate the transportation of illegal migrants into America and other western countries. They operate in a very large black market-based structure. Coyotes, on the other hand, provide transportation for Mexicans that want to be smuggled into America (Bonmati, 2016). Organized crimes are becoming more effective and efficient because of technological advancements that have made things more manageable and less complicated. The trade routes and modes of payment are also done through banks and mobile banking. The organized crimes have also decentralized as many players have found their way into the market. Strong market structures that require different players have necessitated the grounds for such crimes to become more and advanced. For example, the war in Syria in 2015 paved the way for illegal migration of women and children into European countries to escape the fighting. In some cases, corrupt public officers are involved in these crimes, and they assist in procuring travel documents or accept bribes and facilitate the illegal movement of clients from smugglers.
Human trafficking and human smuggling are illegal activities. The two have been categorized as international crimes that are punishable by law. Human trafficking is a crime against an individual as it violates the rights of the victims. Everybody is born with the freedom of free will constituted under the United Nations declaration of human rights. However, the trafficking of persons violates this law as well as the rights involved. The victims of trafficking are taken and subjected to forced labor and sexual exploitation, violating a person’s rights. The victims are hurt in rendering their services because of being subjected to harsh conditions in their work line. Other injuries occur when the victim has only used to traffic a body organ since the traffickers will do anything, even murder, to obtain such an organ. For human smuggling, the mode of transportation also infringes on the rights of those people. Many arrive dead in their destinations after paying vast sums of money. According to BBC NEWS (2020), 23 people have been arrested in the Netherlands and France by police as suspects for transporting 10,000 Kurdish migrants in refrigerated Lorries and small rubber boats. With this kind of transport, it is easy for a person to arrive at their destinations dead or emaciated. Therefore, both human trafficking and human smuggling results in the infringement of those involved and causing physical and emotional harm.
Another comparison is that both crimes punishable by law. Different countries provide penalties for the two countries differently. The United Nations Convention against Transnational organized crimes and the protocols involved are supposed to ensure that the state parties adopt legislature and measures that establish and identify human smuggling and human trafficking as crimes in their local legislation. Ogboru & Kigbu (2015) gives an example of the United Kingdom; if a person is convicted for human smuggling or human trafficking in general, he is subjected to imprisonment for 14 years. At times, fines are charged depending on the offense element, while other times, both imprisonment and fines are subjected to the offender. The United Nations global program against trafficking in human beings aims at bringing to the foreground the involvement of organized crimes in human smuggling and human trafficking. The program helps countries make fully informed decisions on these crimes type and consequences by focusing on the countries of origin, transportation, and destination (Aronowitz, 2001, 178). In Nigeria, the penalty for trafficking is imprisonment for five years and a fine of at least 1,000,000 naira. In the United States of America, the penalty for imprisonment ranges from 10 years, life imprisonment, and death for each person smuggled (Ogboru, & Kigbu, 2015, 229). Human smuggling charges have not yet been documented (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015, 230). In every country, there is a penalty for committing human trafficking or human smuggling. In some like the USA, one is convicted according to the number of people smuggled into the country.
Differences between Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling
One of the main distinctions between smuggling and trafficking of humans is the identity of the persons. Rao& Presenti (2012) states that in human smuggling, the destination of the person being smuggled becomes the victim, while in human trafficking, the crime is against an individual. The facilitator of movement in the smuggling business demands payment for him to move the client across the border; therefore, he provides transportation for his clients into the other country—the type of migrant being smuggled dictates whether they are to be categorized as victims or not. The European nations have experienced an influx in the number of people smuggled into their countries (Ogboru & Kigbu, 2015, 226). For human trafficking, the beneficiary is the trafficker, not the person being trafficked. The person recruiting different individuals to give out to the exploiter is on the receiving end in this business. The individual being trafficked has to be identified to satisfy the end goals of the trafficker. One must possess the necessary skills and qualities, depending on what the trafficker promised to the exploiter. For example, if the victim is needed for sexual exploitation, the trafficker will look for the required attributes. If the trafficker is looking for people to work for forced labor, body-built individuals are the most preferred. The consumers in human smuggling and human trafficking differ; in the former, the person facilitating transportation is the consumer, while in the latter, the trafficker is the consumer. A difference of identity also appears between human smuggling victims as the destination country is the victim. In contrast, in human trafficking, the persons being trafficked are the victims.
Human smuggling requires an individual’s movement across borders, whereas, in human trafficking, movement is not necessary. Persons that use human smuggling to move to a different country are not enslaved by their smugglers but can move freely in such a job and other opportunities. Most smuggling cases have been reported when Mexicans try to cross the American border without the correct and required documentation. However, America is not the only country that suffers immigration through smuggling, but the same occurs for third world countries. Rao & Presenti (2012) give an example of migrants using an example of a group of people who charge money for migrants to pay to travel across the border into another country. Migrant smuggling differs from human trafficking because, in the latter, no payment is required for the victim to be transported to the destination. Transportation across the border is also not relevant for human trafficking occurs within the border. According to the Smuggling & Trafficking Center (2006), trafficking of persons does not require movement across the border; at times, the victims are not even transported from one location to another. Most human traffic victims do not recognize that they are under human trafficking because they feel like they are performing routine work or are warned against exposing the employer. Human trafficking and smuggling of persons are different in the context of where the crime is occurring. In the former, no movement is necessary across any border, while in the latter requires a person to move across an international border.
Human trafficking involves forced labor or exploitation, while human smuggling does not involve any coercion. Human trafficking generally consists of the trafficking of children, women, and men for the buyer’s services. By trafficking people, the offense committed is against the person being trafficked as the act occurs against that individual’s consent. People taken to work into agricultural farms or factories through pressure are illegal in international laws. Transporting individuals to exploit them is what is referred to as human trafficking.
An excellent example is slavery that occurred for several decades, where black people were taken as slaves by the English to work on their farms. On the other hand, human smuggling does not involve force or coercion. Human beings’ smuggling is the illegal entry of individuals into a foreign country (Bonmati, 2016). For smuggling to occur, the individuals involved have to give consent and accept. The reasons provided as to why people get smuggled very personal and familiar for many people. These reasons include escaping one’s country because of civil war, moving to another country for employment opportunities, searching for better conditions abroad, and running from natural disasters and hardship. Others agree to be smuggled because of family problems and bitterness, violence or escape from being convicted, and others seek asylum wherever they are going. Human trafficking and smuggling differ because the former uses coercion on its victims, while in the latter, those being smuggled do so in their own volition.
Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking in Texas
Human smuggling and human trafficking are both prevalent in Texas. The prevalence is due to Texas’ geographical location and the diversity of its population. According to the Smuggling & Trafficking Center (2006), Texas’s human smuggling levels are higher than in other states because of its proximity to one of the most crossed international borders, the Mexico-US border. People are therefore moved from other parts of the globe and into the United States through it. The Department of Health and Human Services records that more than 50,000 individuals are smuggled into the United States every year. 25% of these persons are reported to enter the nation through Texas. The high rate of entry into the State results from a diverse and dynamic population. According to Dols, Beckmann-Mendez, McDow, Walker, & Moon (2019), types of human trafficking prevalent in Texas include forced prostitution, domestic servitude, and forced labor. The people smuggled into Texas through the border are therefore subjected to the kind mentioned above of activities that form human trafficking. This study aims to determine which of the two crimes, human smuggling, and human trafficking is more prevalent in Texas. It also seeks to determine which characteristics make individuals more prone to human trafficking in Texas.
Methodology
This section documents the methods used in data collection for the study. The data collection approach adopted in this study is descriptive. Using a descriptive research design, I was able to collect data without changing its form or source. My study aimed at determining which between human smuggling and human trafficking is more prevalent in Texas and establish which people groups are most vulnerable to these two crimes in Texas. A contrast between the victims of human smuggling and human trafficking was conducted to determine which ones were more and who they were.
Population and Sample Design
The focus of the study was Texas in the United States. The data collected, therefore, focused on only the State of Texas. The sample was not limited to any specific period since the longer the period considered, the more accurate the study results.
Data Collection
This study used both secondary quantitative and qualitative data. It was obtained from the websites of government organizations such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Smuggling and Trafficking Center, the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the University of Texas, the Dallas Women Foundation, the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.
Validity and Reliability
As earlier stated, this study utilized a descriptive approach, and secondary data was collected. Since data was sourced from government and reputable statistics websites, it was assumed to be valid and reliable. There is arguably no better source of data on human trafficking and smuggling in Texas than the websites mentioned above and organizations.
Data Analysis
Data on the victims’ demographics were analyzed using qualitative content analysis Data on the figures of the victims of both human smuggling and trafficking was analyzed using trend analysis. Trend analysis was chosen because the variables involved are not random. It was also suitable since the sample size was large.
Data Analysis, Findings and Discussion
The study’s objective was to determine the crime with more victims between human trafficking and smuggling in Texas. This section presents an analysis of the data I collected and discusses the findings of the analyzed data.
Research Findings
The findings of the study revealed that human trafficking is more prevalent than human smuggling in Texas. A mean of about 50,000 individuals is trafficked through the State of Texas into the United States annually- is the highest number of people smuggled into the United States per State. Texas is, therefore, the largest hub for human smuggling in the United States. For human trafficking, more than 300,000 individuals are trafficked in Texas annually. Of this population, at least 80,000 are minors, while the rest are adults. The figures on human trafficking were, therefore, higher than those of human smuggling into the State. The most vulnerable groups of individuals to these kinds of crimes come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, women, and children.
Discussion of the Research Findings
The higher level of prevalence of human trafficking than human smuggling can be explained based on the nature of the two activities. Human smuggling is determined based on the State’s movement, whereas human trafficking does not entail movement. Human smuggling is dynamic, while human trafficking is static. Human trafficking is higher because the people who come into Texas through smuggling are retained and trafficked. Most trafficked persons hesitate from reporting the criminals in fear that they will not be paid their wages or will have to pay felony charges because their immigration status is illegal. This hesitation, therefore, makes human trafficking to become more prevalent. The persons most vulnerable were found to be women and children, and people of low socioeconomic backgrounds. They are therefore exploited due to their weakness and inability to provide for themselves. They are threatened with being fired and losing their jobs, and hence they hesitate from reporting their oppressors.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Since human trafficking is a result of human smuggling, the State of Texas’s government should ensure that the border controls in place are effective. Effective border control will reduce illegal immigration into Texas. The number of people being trafficked will. As a result, reduce. The government should also create frameworks that make it easier for victims of trafficking to expose their oppressors without the fear of them finding out. The government should find ways of protecting individuals who expose human traffickers to encourage such cases.
Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Further Research
Comparing the data on human smuggling and human trafficking was a challenge because the two variables are different. Therefore, the measurement unit of each variable should be different if the evaluation is to be improved. Therefore, I recommend that a standard way of comparing the two variables be determined to evaluate which one is more prevalent in Texas. The standardization will help to develop more efficient ways of curbing these crimes.
References
Aronowitz, A. (2001). Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: The Phenomenon, The Markets that Drive It, and the Organisations that Promote It. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research. 10.1023/A: 1011253129328.
Bonmati, D. S. (2016). “A day in the life of a coyote: smuggling migrants from Mexico to the United States.” Univision News.
Gallagher, A., T. & David, F. (2014). The International Law of Migrant Smuggling. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139991988
Ogboru, T., & Kigbu, S. (2015). Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling: The Distinction and Legal Implications. Beijing Law Review, 6, 224-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/blr.2015.64022
Rao, S. & Presenti, C. (2012). Understanding Human Trafficking Origin: A Cross-Country Empirical Analysis. Feminist Economics – FEM ECON. 18. 231-263. 10.1080/13545701.2012.680978.
“Smuggling arrests over transport of ‘10,000 Kurds’ to UK”. (2020). BBC NEWS. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51214424
Smuggling, H., & Center, T. (2006). Distinctions between human smuggling and human trafficking. URL (accessed 14 September 2009): http://www. state. gov/m/ds/hstcenter/90434. htm.
Busch-Armendariz, N., Nale, N. L., Kammer-Kerwick, M., Kellison, J. B., Torres, M. I., Cook-Heffron, L., & Nehme, J. (2016). Human trafficking by the numbers: The initial benchmark of prevalence and economic impact for Texas. Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA), The University of Texas at Austin.
Dols, J. D., Beckmann-Mendez, D., McDow, J., Walker, K., & Moon, M. D. (2019). Human trafficking victim identification, assessment, and intervention strategies in South Texas emergency departments. Journal of emergency nursing, 45(6), 622-633.