Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

and 2011).
This chapter provides an overview of the literature on irregular migration
in Latin America, particularly in regard to the Mexican and Central American
cases, which are the regions most frequently discussed in academic, policy and
journalism spheres. It also refers to the body of South American scholarship,
particularly the case of Ecuador (which visa policies have been identified as
having played a role on the arrival and transit of Caribbean and transcontinental
migrants to that part of the continent), and to the Caribbean, where efforts
on the part of their residents to reach the United States or Central American
countries and Mexico, have also been the focus of some academic and policyrelated
work, albeit to a lesser degree than that of other parts of the continent.
While acknowledging migrants and those behind their transits rely on a wide
range of routes and methods to articulate and achieve their mobility goals, this
chapter recognizes the historical importance of migration flows throughout
the Americas, where the United States continues to be at the top of the list
of migrants’ target destinations, and where Mexico as a transit country plays a
critical role in the experience of thousands of irregular migrants in transit. It is
also important to highlight that the experiences of migrants are also dependent
on one’s own identity, which play a role in the degree and kinds of vulnerability
they face. The experience of a Mexican national travelling through Mexico, for
example, involves far different risks than those involving the journeys of Central
American migrants, who face deportation and removal by Mexican authorities
(Casillas, 2007); women are more likely to die while crossing borders (Pickering
and Cochrane, 2013). In summary, the practice of travelling irregularly is a
fundamental element of Latin America’s culture of migration, and should, for
that matter, be understood as connected to decades-long, complex historical and
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11. Latin America