Abstract

TORRE CANTALAPIEDRA, Eduardo  and  HERNANDEZ CAMPOS, Carlos Manuel. People Smuggling and Its Counterposed Discourses: The Role of the Smuggler in Thefts to and Abandonment of Migrants. Sociológica (Méx.) [online]. 2021, vol.36, n.104, pp.109-144.  Epub Mar 28, 2022. ISSN 2007-8358.

The aim of this article is to analyze the main dangers that Central American and Mexican migrants confront when they resort to smugglers to get to the United States, and how the adversities they face are interpreted in light of two of the most outstanding discourses about smuggling. Based on surveys about migration done along Mexico’s northern and southern borders, the authors examine this phenomenon as well as the figures for thefts, assaults, and abandonment that these people suffer at the hands of smugglers.

Keywords : people smuggling; migratory policy; smuggler; Central American migration; Mexico-U.S. migration.