Irish Defence Forces/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nc-nd)
Access the complete Human Smugglers Roundtable
Irregular immigration has produced political heat across the world. Dramatic photos of migrants crammed into wretched boats circulate in the media, while journalistic accounts tell stories of poor and desperate individuals deceived by organised crime ‘cartels’. When EUROPOL launched the European Migrant Smuggling Centre last February, it cited astonishing statistics on human smuggling operations: networks of unprecedented reach have taken over the market; profits are breaking records; ‘smugglers’ are able to transport anybody from asylum seekers to ‘economic migrants’ to members of terrorist and fundamentalist organisations.
