Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings: All Roads Lead to America

Coming to America to make a better life has long been a dream of many from around the world, even if it means being voluntarily smuggled into the country to gain entry. Perhaps more ominously, various criminal elements now traffic people to the United States--especially vulnerable groups like women and children from poor nations--against their will for sexual exploitation, slavery, and other illicit, underground purposes. The implications for the United States are potentially staggering.

This book examines how for-profit human smuggling and trafficking activities to the United States are carried out and explores the legal and policy challenges of dealing with these problems. Zhang covers the scope and patterns of global human trafficking and smuggling activities; the strategies and methods employed by various groups to bring individuals into the United States; major smuggling routes and venues; the involvement of organized criminal organizations in transnational human smuggling activities; and the challenges confronting the U.S. government in combating these activities.