The Pros And Cons Of Smuggling

Smuggling, on the other hand, includes two willing parties engaged in payment for transportation with the relationship ending upon reaching destination.

Human trafficking is the modernized version of slavery that involves force, fraud, and/or a type of labor in a sexual act. The United States government defines it to be “In which a sex act is forced in which the person induced has not yet been attained eighteen years of age” (National Institute of Justice). Human trafficking is a threat to all nations and promotes breakdown of families and can support organized crime. Trafficking can occur everywhere. Human trafficking and human smuggling are related to one another, but different crimes. The difference between smuggling and trafficking is that smuggling is the illegal movement of someone across a border while trafficking is the illegal exploitation of a person.

• Indicted in San Diego in 1995 for money laundering and conspiracy to import tons of cocaine. His more creative means of transport included transferring the powder inside fire extinguishers and cans labeled CHILI PEPPERS.

The problem of drugs coming over into the United States from Mexico is not new, but it is serious and in spite of many efforts by American law enforcement and border authorities, it continues day after day. This paper reviews the problem from several perspectives and brings to light attempts the U.S. has made to stop drug trafficking on our border with Mexico. The biggest issue regarding border security is the power of the drug cartels, and the majority of emphasis in this paper is directed towards the cartels.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use fraud or coercion to profit from forcing victims in commercial sex acts or labor services ("Human Trafficking".) It is a market-driven criminal industry that is based on the principles of supply and demand, like drugs or arms trafficking. Many components make children and adults susceptible to human trafficking. Traffickers target vulnerable people for a variety of reasons, including psychological or emotional issues, economic hardship, lack of safety, or political instability. Unfortunately, victims rarely seek help due to language barriers, fear of the traffickers and law enforcement, or fear of potential consequences. Knowing how to identify signs of human trafficking is the first step in pinpointing victims. Additionally, we can assist victims by modifying criminal policy, receiving more state funds, participating in organizations, and raising awareness.

Drug smuggling has been an issue in the United States since the 1960s and the Border Patrol has made many efforts to stop drugs from crossing our borders. The Purpose of the Border Patrol is to secure and keep our borders safe. Recently their focus has been on illegal immigration and drug smuggling. Drug smuggling has become an increasing issue and the efforts of the Border Patrol are being pushed to stop these illegal activities. The influx of drugs into the U.S. has many effects on our country as a whole and as smugglers get creative in finding new methods to get around the Border Patrol, it becomes harder for them to stop it. This may be why it seems too easy to get drugs across the border. With new techniques of smuggling it allows for more drugs to enter the U.S. and it leave the Border Patrol on their toes and on a constant lookout for these new techniques.

The Mexican gun smuggling cartel business started around the year of 2003 (Grillo, par. 2). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) began to research and investigate the Mexican drug cartels (Detty, pg.3). The ATF started to use a tactic called “gunwalking”. This tactic ran a series of sting operations in order to arrest Mexican drug cartel leaders (Detty, pg.4). The citizens of Mexico were given the

Over the years, drug-law enforcement agents have often developed “drug courier profiles” to help them identify potential drug smugglers. In United States v. Sokolow

Customs, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement… have complained that investigations were hampered by the CIA or unnamed “national security” interests.”

Never exceeding more than seventy-five guards, this placed them severely understaffed for the need of manpower, but it was reinforced with the help of “Military troops along the southwest border performed intermittent border patrolling…Texas Rangers were also sporadically assigned to patrol duties by the state” (Border Patrol History, 2015). At that time the United States government was more concerned with intercepting enemy communications than they were about illegal entry into the country. However, struck by the realization of how ineffective their efforts were to secure and patrol the border without enforcement between stations; Frank W. Berkshire, the Supervising Inspector, addressed his concerns of uncoordinated efforts in enforcing

Back in the 1980s, Pablo Escobar was the biggest cocaine trafficker in the world. On a good day, from Columbia, Escobar would smuggle about 15 tons of cocaine into the United States. He used a variety of ways to sneak his product into the country, but the most straightforward of which was through American-based airlines. When he first started smuggling cocaine, Escobar would have his mother sew five kilos into the lining of a jacket, then one of his sicarios (hitmen) would wear the jacket onto a flight to the United States and walk right through the security. Eventually, Escobar would smuggle up to five tons a day into this

The second federal agency, the U.S. Customs & Border Protection Agency, functions beneath the Department of Homeland Security (Levinthal, 2012). The responsibility of the Customs & Border agency is to limiting movement of illicit drugs across America’s borders (Levinthal, 2012). In addition, branches are also employed to assist the agency of the smuggling and money laundering due to the interdiction of illicit drugs (Levinthal, 2012). The branches aid in the interdiction, due to covering many avenues, smugglers interchange of importation (Levinthal,

Families relocate because they do not want to face state and federal crimes for smuggling cannabis across state lines. Or, be charged for child endangerment similar to the Brown Family of Minnesota. However, not all families have the means to relocate to another state. Jennifer Conforti has a daughter with severe biting habits and violent outbursts triggered by autism. The Conforti family resides in Georgia and had to smuggle cannabis oil. “I was worried that the Department of Family Services would take my daughter away. I was worried the sheriff would show up at my door and arrest me,” she comments (Jennifer quoted in Brunker, 2016). Similar fear of being caught identified in Kate Pickert’s statement of “a German shepherd approaches your

The informant mailed the package to the FBI where Special Agent Steven Carr thumbed through the contents inside and he read a letter inside stating “This letter is confidential and directed to your President or Intelligence Chief. Please pass this letter via diplomatic pouch and do not discuss the existence of this letter in your offices or homes or via any electronic means. If you do not follow these instructions the existence of this letter and its contents may be detected and collected by US intelligence agencies.” (Bhattacharjee, 2016) This is a clear indicator of every action were calculated and his intentions were very clear in selling out the country undetected.

In some cases, it so happens that the government is working both sides of the law. It has been alleged that the CIA, with its support of the Contra resistance group in Nicaragua, has actively participated in the importation of cocaine while being protected from prosecution as a