The List: The World's Top Immigrant Smuggling Routes


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Posted June 2007

Wars, famine, and poverty drive hundreds of thousands of people each year to pull up stakes and head for greener pastures. But those seeking a better life don’t always find themselves welcome in their prospective homes. For this week’s List, FP takes a look at the dangerous routes migrants are using in order to stay one step ahead of the authorities.




Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images NewsThe Long Road from Guatemala to the United States

Trends: Mexicans are still by far the largest group of illegal immigrants to the United States: In 2005, 86 percent of apprehensions across the U.S.-Mexico border were of Mexicans. But as Mexicans head north to find a better life in the United States, Guatemalans are falling in behind them—between 45,000 and 75,000 Guatemalan peasants cross the southern Mexican border each year, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Disturbingly, drug lords are seizing control of the human-smuggling business across the Americas, using migrants as human decoys for diverting border authorities from shipments of drugs.

Hot new route: The new fence along the U.S.-Mexico border in California and Texas merely shifted migration routes away from traditional entry ports near San Diego and El Paso. The hot new gateway is the area around Tucson, Arizona, which saw a 64 percent increase in the number of apprehensions in 2004 compared with the previous year.

Why they leave: It’s the economy, stupid. Most migrants from Latin America are looking for a better-paying job in order to send remittances home to their families left behind. But violent crime could also play a role: Increasing numbers of asylum seekers from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala cite fear of “gang violenceâ€