Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Gender-Based Experiences Of Migrant Smuggling At The Us-Mexico Border, Sarah E. Rinehart

Student Publications

The US-Mexico border has been increasing its security measures, which has corresponded with increases in migration. Due to increasing restrictions on who is able to legally migrate, many turn to irregular migration, and the more effective way of achieving irregular migration is through use of a migrant facilitator. Migrant smugglers are individuals who receive compensated for assisting others in crossing a national border through illegal means. In discourses about irregular migration from the media and political, migrant smugglers are typically portrayed as criminalized men who take advantage of vulnerable, victimized women migrants. While the experiences of men and women migrants …