Human smuggling is on the rise. International collaboration is key to halting it.
| Guatemala City
More than two years since the deadliest human smuggling event in recent U.S. history,聽fresh聽arrests in Guatemala聽signal a new era of cross-border cooperation that experts say is key to stemming smuggling at a time of record-high migration.
Seven men were detained by the Guatemalan government late last month and charged with trafficking in the 2022 deaths of 53 migrants who perished in a tractor trailer abandoned in the sweltering Texas heat by a network paid to safely 鈥� and illegally 鈥� bring them into the United States.
U.S. authorities have put in an extradition request for one of the men. He is believed to be the mastermind of the operation, which killed several children, a pregnant woman, and dozens of other Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican, and Salvadoran immigrants seeking safety and opportunity in the U.S.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onDespite efforts to crack down on immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, human smugglers adapt quickly to new laws and regulations in how they market their 鈥渟ervices鈥� to desperate migrants. Could indicting traffickers in Guatemala put a dent in their business model?
As migration grows 鈥� and immigration laws become more restrictive 鈥� the trafficking of migrants desperate to reach the U.S. has flourished. Human smugglers often oversell their 鈥渟ervices,鈥� offering anything from safe passage to supposedly processing asylum requests, targeting a vulnerable and desperate population at a high cost. Although the August arrests in Guatemala may seem like a drop in the bucket at a time when, globally, human migration is at a historic high, observers say it鈥檚 a step in the right direction. The聽twelve people,聽including two U.S. citizens,聽now facing charges for the tragic end of these migrants聽involve those聽at all levels of planning, from mapping out the route to recruiting 鈥渃lients,鈥� to driving the big rig that was eventually abandoned.
If there isn鈥檛 multinational collaboration, targeting both root causes of migration and the people profiting from it, these tragedies won鈥檛 stop, says Francisco Pellizzari, director of Casa del Migrante Scalabrini, a Catholic organization that runs migrant shelters in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. 鈥淚t is a global phenomenon, but it can be alleviated through the coordination of governments,鈥� he says.聽鈥淚t has to be a response from various operators, actors, governments, and civil society.鈥�
鈥淎 collaborative effort鈥�
Deisy Fermina L贸pez Ram铆rez first left home when she was 15 years old, and, like many migrants, first looked for answers to her family鈥檚 poverty inside her home country. She moved 155 miles away to Guatemala City, where she held different odd jobs, earning roughly $150 per month. But it wasn鈥檛 enough to put food on the table and support her family, says her father, Oslidio L贸pez, an Indigenous farmer in a lush, mountainous village in northwestern Guatemala.
When Ms. L贸pez was 23 years old, she contacted a group of human traffickers, referred to locally as 鈥渃oyotes鈥� or 鈥減olleros,鈥� whom she paid for safe passage from Comitancillo, San Marcos to the U.S. with the deeds to the land where her family lives. Her parents also took out a loan to help pay the fee. Her father declined to say if they are still paying interest on the loan.
Weeks after her departure for the U.S., her family鈥檚 world shattered with the news that Ms. L贸pez was one of the 53 people who were left to perish in a sealed big rig, without access to water or fresh air, in the brutal Texas heat.
鈥淥ne feels bitterness and pain, but I cannot do anything, as much as I would like to,鈥� says Mr. L贸pez, who adds that he doesn鈥檛 understand the legal system here, and that the arrests have done little to dull the pain of losing his daughter.
Guatemala鈥檚 Public Ministry reports that between 2022 and 2024, some 230 people accused of trafficking migrants were arrested here. But, without international cooperation, arrests like these may not result in much, especially in a country where collaborations between criminal groups and local police are common place, says Carlos Eduardo Woltke Mart铆nez, deputy director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM).
On Aug. 21, Guatemalan officials announced the arrests of seven people accused of helping smuggle some of the migrants who died alongside Ms. L贸pez. That included Rigoberto Rom谩n Mirando-Orozco, the alleged ringleader. The next day, U.S. authorities announced Mr. Orozco鈥檚 indictment and extradition request.聽
鈥淭his is a collaborative effort between the Guatemalan police and [the U.S. Department of] Homeland Security, in addition to other national agencies, to dismantle the structures of human trafficking,鈥� Guatemala鈥檚 interior minister told the Associated Press last month.
The shifting 鈥渉ow鈥� of migration
The dynamics of migration have changed dramatically over the past two decades, and that includes how 鈥� and with whose guidance 鈥� people are migrating, says Cindy Espina, a journalist and investigator of migration based in Mexico City.
鈥淚t is no longer the relatives or local leaders, as it was in the 1990s, who guide migrants鈥� north, she says. 鈥淣ow there are trafficking networks across Mexico that can charge almost $20,000 per trip鈥� to the U.S.
As organized crime and drug trafficking have grown in the region, so too have restrictive immigration policies. Following Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. southern border became more militarized, halting what for generations were circular patterns of migration, with laborers coming to the U.S. seasonally and then returning home. Later came pandemic-era policies that essentially shuttered the U.S. border to outsiders without visas, creating a buildup of desperation among migrants.聽Most recently, strict asylum restrictions have changed border dynamics once again.
Instead of single, working-age men, today migrant shelters are overwhelmed by previously atypical migrant profiles, like families, unaccompanied minors, and the elderly.
Mr. Pellizzari, from Casa del Migrante, says that in 2023 the organization served around 32,000 people at the shelter in Guatemala City alone. That鈥檚 almost double their 2018 record, when a caravan of Honduran migrants passed through the shelter and they assisted roughly 18,000 people.
As organized criminal groups expanded their business models beyond drug trafficking to include kidnapping, extortion, and human smuggling, migratory routes became infiltrated by predators. Human smugglers now commonly advertise their services through local radio stations and social media networks, such as TikTok, says Mr. Woltke.
鈥淧eople feel like they are beneficiaries of a service,鈥� says Mr. Woltke. 鈥淏ut they are victims of a crime.鈥�
And it鈥檚 not just high fees, but increasingly people might pay with deeds to their land, like the L贸pez family, or take out sky-high-interest loans from unauthorized agents. This generates long-term costs 鈥� and more pressure to arrive in the U.S. one way or another to start earning money 鈥� that can create a situation that 鈥渨orsens the poverty of people who sought to migrate to escape from it,鈥� he says.
According to estimates by the IGM, 90% of migrants who returned to Guatemala in the past five years barely managed to cross more than 60 miles into the U.S. before being deported back to unsustainable debt.
Human smugglers 鈥渨ill always look for a way to make a profit聽through聽the people,鈥� says Mr. Woltke. 鈥淭heir goal is not the safety or the integrity of migrants.鈥�
