Where Immigration and Labor Trafficking Converge

In order to better understand why migrants would endure the maltreatment and exclusionary measures taken against them, we need to examine the factors that lead to migration and ultimately, human trafficking. These factors that contribute to the movement of people are referred to as “push” and “pull factors”. Though push and pull factors are unique to the individual circumstance, there are certain factors that are more common. Author Kevin Bales examines various factors that can lead to human trafficking and ultimately seeks to define which factors are the most important. Factors that lead migrants to leave their country of origin (push factors) include: “political instability, militarism, civil unrest, internal armed conflict, and natural disasters” (Bales, 2007, p. 269). Additionally, identified predictors of trafficking from a country or origin also included: government corruption, infant mortality rate, the food production index, and population density (Bales, 2007, p. 275). These factors along with poverty and lack of opportunity all propel migrants to seek a safer or more prosperous life in a different country. When examining pull factors (factors that draw migrants to a particular destination country), Bales identifies that availability of employment, economic well, opportunity, and demographic profile of the destination country, are all variables that contribute to migration to a destination country (2007, p. 276).

Photo by Lance Cheung.

Various push and pull factors make up the indicators of why an individual would choose to leave their country of origin in favor of another destination country. These factors and situations are unique to the individual’s experience. Regardless of the push or pull factors guiding that individual’s migratory journey, migrants are then met with roadblocks and exclusionary policies that prevent safe passage to the destination country. When examining the United States and Mexico border, we see how the desert is a contracted enforcer in preventing the safe passage of migrants reaching the border. Exclusionary policies and practices lead migrants to seek alternative ways to reach a safer and more desirable destination country. Unfortunately, many of these avenues are dangerous, and can lead to instances of human trafficking. As stated by Bales, “The destabilization and displacement of populations increase their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse through trafficking and forced labor” (2007, p. 269). It is clear that stringent immigration policies have created an opportunistic landscape in which traffickers have control of migration.

A destroyed neighborhood in Raqqa, Syria. Photo by Mahmoud Bali .

Push Factors during the European Refugee Crisis

"In 2015 a culmination of wars and conflicts, and a variety of push factors triggered the European Refugee Crisis. The Syrian war played a key role in the influx of refugees to reach Europe in 2015 (Kalogeraki, 2022, p. 92). The Syrian civil war displaced over 5 million people (Niemann and Zaun, 2018, p. 3). Almost 2.5 million refugees, primarily from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, among other Middle Eastern and North African countries, entered Europe between 2015 and 2016 (Morrice, 2022, p. 251). In addition to conflicts, push factors of refugees from the Global South to Europe included environmental degradation and climate change, natural disasters, economic fragility, or persecution (Morrice, 2022, p. 251). This mass influx of refugees into Europe would be the largest movement of people in Europe since World War ll (Niemann and Zaun, 2018, p. 3)."

From page 6 of "Examination of the Syrian and Ukrainian Refugee Crises: What Makes a “Worthy” Refugee?" by Kristen Monroe, for JHR 505" Migration, Asylum & Refugees. Read the full piece here.

Resorting to Dangerous Methods

On April 18, 2015, a ship containing refugees sank off the coast of Libya. Over 1,100 people were on board and only 28 survived. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident and there are many similar stories of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants lost at sea. Most recently another boat containing refugees sank on June 14, 2023 off the coast of Greece and over 600 individuals lost their lives. According to the International Organization of Migration, almost 30,000 individuals have gone missing or lost their lives since 2014. The Central Mediterranean sea is known to be a dangerous and deadly migration route. Despite this, the EU has not provided a plan of safety for refugees to reach Europe, and continues to outsource “immigration control” to the hostile conditions of the mediterranean sea much like the U.S. outsources control to the Sonoran desert (International Rescue Committee).

The area of land along the U.S. and Mexico border has been called harsh, hostile, and inhospitable. It is in this environment that migrants are not only smuggled, but also fall victims to trafficking. Though smuggling and trafficking are often conflated, smuggling involves consent from the individual being smuggled along with reaching their intended destination. "On the other hand, trafficking victims have "either never consented or, if they initially consented, that consent has been rendered meaningless by the coercive, deceptive or abusive actions of the traffickers" (Cicero-Dominguez, p. 305). United States border initiatives, such as Operation Gatekeeper, Operation Blockade, and Operation Hold have only sought to "deter" trafficking without regard of those being smuggled or trafficked in the hostile terrain. Strategies of deterrence have "also believed to have contributed to the increasing market for smugglers and human traffickers" (Cicero-Dominguez, p. 318).

Photo by the Hellenic Coast Guard.

“It’s imperative that EU leaders take urgent, principled action to prevent more suffering at Europe’s borders,” said Imogen Sudbery, the IRC’s senior director of Europe advocacy. “If they fail to do so, the Mediterranean will not just become a graveyard for more people seeking protection, but for its own values of human rights, dignity and equality.”

Read the full article by the International Rescue Committee here.

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