Human Smuggling a Profitable Business at Immigrants’ Cost

Ronald Garcia is a 39-year-old Guatemalan man who recently entered the United States illegally. He is currently at Casa Alitas, a shelter for immigrants in Tucson, Arizona. While there, he told about his border crossing.

Garcia said he paid smugglers $20,000 to get him across the border. He said he had to sell all he owned to come to the U.S.

Crossing into the United States illegally is a big business in Central and South America. Many people leave their countries due to the violence and poverty. They pay huge amounts of money and risk their lives to leave.

Garcia said of his experience, "They put me in a trunk where you couldn't breathe, and well, thank God (I survived), because they say that all those who are put there, they die."

The U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) says illegal smuggling² operations are big business.

A RAND Corporation study estimated smugglers made between $200 million and $2.3 billion in 2017 transporting people into the U.S., mostly from Central America.

USPB spokesman Mario Escalante said it is a dangerous business as well. He said smugglers sometimes abandon the migrants, steal from them, rape³ them and worse.

Garcia agrees.

"They ask for a quantity of money, and if they don't get it by the time and date they say, they'll kill you," he said.

Henry Cuellar is a U.S. lawmaker from Texas. The congressional area he represents stretches from San Antonio to the border town of McAllen in southern Texas.

Cuellar told VOA that smugglers also provide transport for illegal drug traffickers.

But it is not just criminal organizations making money from immigrants.

Private research business Dynamic Securities Analytics reports that the American financial industry also profits from the illegal business. They profit from fees connected to electronic payments made by undocumented immigrants.

President Joe Biden supports extensive immigration reform. Biden has also warned migrants against making illegal border crossings.

Former ambassador Roberta Jacobson is Biden's adviser⁴ on southern border issues. She told VOA that the administration is working with foreign intelligence sources to fight human smuggling operations.

Words in This Story

smuggler¹ – a person who transports (someone or something) from one country into another illegally and secretly

trunk – n. the enclosed space in the back of a car for carrying things

quantity – n. a large amount or number of something

1 smuggler   

n.走私者

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight, awaiting extradition to Britain. 这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• The smuggler was finally obliged to inform against his boss. 那个走私犯最后不得不告发他的首领。

2 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。