Smuggling can be described as the clandestine cross-border economic exchange, and along the United States and Mexico border, is often performed for illegal economic flow (Andreas, 2009, p. 5). Smuggling across the United States and Mexico border has a long history, with the first smuggling practices being introduced in the 1820's, where goods from Mexico escaped the duty fees in the United States, and the United States imported arms to Mexico to assist in Mexico’s own civil unrest (Andreas, 2009, p. 30). Today, migrant labor and drugs are smuggled from Mexico into the United States. The beneficiaries of smuggling include the coyotes, the guides that escort migrants from one side of the border to the other, along with employer’s in the United States who are able to pay labor migrants, and the drug cartels who are able to produce illegal drugs and distribute them in the United States for large profits. Parties that are hurt by smuggling include migrants, who have died while in transit or have been sold into sex trafficking, and the United States, due to lapses in security, and immigrants who are willing to do jobs for lower pay.
2) How can the U.S. Government win the war on drugs and at the same time decrease smuggling?
The War on Drugs was launched in 1969 by President Nixon to signal displeasure with Mexico’s efforts in deterring their drug flow (Andreas, 2009, p. 41). Also known as Operation Intercept, the combined efforts of enhanced security along the border, with the use of aerial herbicides, eradicated enormous amounts of both marijuana and heroin. However, the results of making the illegal drugs rarer caused increased corruption on the Mexican side of the border. The United States can win its war on drugs and decrease smuggling by legalizing marijuana, putting stricter punishments on drug dealers, and performing operations in conjunction with Mexico to make their country more secure, instead of corrupt and unable to protect itself. Despite human rights concerns, countries such as Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines have introduced the death penalty for drug traffickers, with the Philippine’s President Duterte openly calling for their citizens to perform vigilante justice against criminals and drug dealers (Maresca, 2016).
3. Besides smuggling, what other border violations threaten the facilitation of legitimate trade.
Smuggling has a negative impact on trade however, the corruption that comes with the income from the illegal economic flow is cause for concern as well. Border officials have been bribed, allowing security to be lax, and allowing illegal goods across the border. Furthermore, acts of violence and theft make it impossible to perform safe trade with certain cities of Mexico.
4. What is the globalization of organized crime and how serious is the threat?
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2010) define global organized crime as all profit-motivated criminal activities with international implications however, these transnational criminal markets are responsible for the illegal exchanges of drugs, arms, human trafficking, toxic waste, stolen natural resources and protected animal parts (p. 19). The threat of globalized organized crime can be described in two parts: the direct impacts in which the criminals are committing the actual prohibited criminal activity, and indirect impacts, in which the criminals are negatively affecting the legitimacy of the state and commercial markets (UNODC, 2010, p. 35). Both of these negative impacts can lead to opposition groups and insurgency and corruption in governments, all of which are things that can cause negative ripple effects across the global markets.
References
Andreas, P. (2009). Border games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico divide. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Maresca, T. (2016, July 11.) Philippine President 'Duterte Harry' acts on pledge to kill drug dealers. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/07/11/philippine-president-duterte-harry-acts-pledge-kill-drug-dealers/86936916/
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2010). The globalization of crime: A transnational organized crime threat assessment. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/TOCTA_Report_2010_low_res.pdf
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