Problem
Trafficking in illegal aliens
Other Names:
Illicit trade in aliensImmigrant smuggling rings
Illegal trafficking in migrants
Incidence:
About 100,000 Asians (mainland Chinese, Taiwanese and ethnic Chinese from Vietnam) are illegally entering the USA each year. Each immigrant is charged about $30,000 and Asian gangs which manage the smuggling operation are taking in as much as $3 billion annually. Because most immigrants cannot afford the fee, their relatives or prospective employers pay, and the immigrants end up working as indentured servants in Asian communities to pay off the debt. An undetermined number join the gangs and commit crimes to pay for their passage. Some become prostitutes, like the Taiwanese women smuggled into the USA in the 1980s by a ring that established a seven-city call-girl service before its leaders were jailed in 1988. Immigrants who cannot repay the money are sometimes tortured or killed. The traffic also includes illegal immigration for which a heavy price is paid in cash by the immigrant and in prison sentences or deportation if he is discovered and arrested.
Narrower Problems:
Abusive traffic in immigrant workers Aggravates:
Debt slaveryCriminal coercionTransnational organized crimeExploitation of the prostitution of others Strategies:
Combatting illegal immigrationCampaigning against trafficking in womenTrafficking in illegal aliensProviding illegal accommodationProviding illegal accommodation Values:
AlienationIllegalityTrafficking Subject(s):
Commerce → TradeLaw → Law
Law → Legality
Societal Problems → Crime
Society → Foreigners
Society → Migrants
Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
Problem Type:
D: Detailed problems Date of last update
30.05.2019 – 17:53 CEST