TYPOLOGY OF MEXICAN MIGRANT SMUGGLING NETWORKS

Abstract

This article, based on interviews with 203 migrant smugglers conducted between 2008 and 2020, aims to analyze the typology of Mexican migrant smuggling networks. Departing from the scheme developed by Spener we have differentiated three types of networks: clandestine crossing, labor intermediation and bureaucratic evasion. Contrary to Spener's model, inspired by both the concept of autonomous international migration and the theory of migration networks, which argues that migrant smuggling has evolved from schemes of lower to greater migrants' autonomy, this article sustains the opposite hypothesis. There has been progressive replacement of clandestine crossing networks, which work for the social networks of migrants, by labor intermediation networks, which recruit migrant workers from Mexico and Central America for US employers. We conclude that the autonomy and agency of migrants has diminished during the period studied.