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‘This Time I Am Going to Cross!’: Fighting Entrapment Processes Through the Provision of Human Smuggling Services on the US–Mexico Border

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Entrapping Asylum Seekers

Part of the book series: Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security ((TCCCS))

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Abstract

Human smuggling is often monolithically described as a practice conducted by evil and exploitative smugglers who prey on the naiveté of those on the move. This depiction does not just point at the role of the state for the deployment of mechanisms that entrap migrants and asylum seekers in transit. It also hides the ways migrants and asylum seekers circumvent the risks posed by migration and border enforcement controls. Drawing from data collected in 2015 on the experience of a Mexican migrant family who crossed the US–Mexico border with the assistance of smuggling facilitators, this chapter provides an account of the efforts of undocumented migrants at avoiding the entrapment put in place by the state to curtail their mobility. By engaging the services of smugglers, migrants attempt to reduce the risks inherent to their journeys, which indicates a continued reliance on smugglers—despite the growing criminalization of clandestine flows—as an effective tool to reduce risk and ensuring safe journeys.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Fonow and Cook (2005) warn researchers of the perils of conducting work in fields of study that are hyper-represented, as is the case for smuggling. By focusing on the roles played by family members in securing smuggling services, my goal is to open the discursive field of smuggling dominated by the monolithic, simplistic narratives that focus on exploitation and violence as inherent elements of irregular migration journeys, to describe instead its community roots and connections.

  2. 2.

    Here I echo Parrenas’ definition of care as ‘the labor and resources needed to ensure the mental, emotional and physical well-being of the individual,’ coordinating care and protection ‘from great geographical distances’ (12–13).

  3. 3.

    As Ahmad expresses with disappointment, discussions on smuggling often rely upon one-dimensional portraits of migrant and refugee journeys as solely dictated by economic need (2011, pp. 6–7).

  4. 4.

    A commonly purchased crossing service along the US–Mexico border involves a trek lasting from a few hours to several days, followed by consecutive segments traversed by car to a prearranged location.

  5. 5.

    US CBP.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute, Florence, Italy

    Gabriella E. Sanchez

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  1. Gabriella E. Sanchez
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Francesco Vecchio

  2. Centre for Law and Justice, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, Australia

    Alison Gerard

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Sanchez, G.E. (2017). ‘This Time I Am Going to Cross!’: Fighting Entrapment Processes Through the Provision of Human Smuggling Services on the US–Mexico Border. In: Vecchio, F., Gerard, A. (eds) Entrapping Asylum Seekers. Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58739-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58739-8_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58738-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58739-8

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