Editing People smuggling (section)

==Facts and figures==

Virtually every country in the world is affected by people smuggling, be it in the capacity of country of origin, transit, or destination. While reliable data is scarce, experts note that "current estimates place the number of irregular migrants worldwide at up to thirty million and that a substantial proportion of these persons can be expected to have used the services of smugglers at one or more points in their journey".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DH6AwAAQBAJ&q=international+law+of+migrant+smuggling&pg=PR1 |title=The International Law of Migrant Smuggling |first1=Anne T. |last1=Gallagher |first2=Fiona |last2=David |date=21 July 2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |via=Google Books |isbn=9781139991988}} p4</ref>

People smuggling between the United States and Mexico is a booming business that, as of 2003, garnered over $5&nbsp;billion a year.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,474582,00.html |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20150404010908/http://content.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,474582,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 April 2015 |author=Padgett, Tim |newspaper=[[Time Magazine]] |date=12 August 2003 |title=People Smugglers Inc}}</ref> Similarly, in the EU, profits from people smuggling operations is estimated to be around €4&nbsp;billion per year.

People smuggling is a dangerous operation and has frequently resulted in the death of those individuals being smuggled. In 2004, 464 recorded deaths took place during the crossing from Mexico to the United States, and each year, an estimated 2000 people drown in the Mediterranean on the journey from Africa into Europe.<ref name="economist2005">{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=4488653 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=6 August 2005 |title=Decapitating the snakeheads |access-date=2024-12-23}}</ref>

On 14 September 2018, US media reported that Jacklyn, a seven-year-old girl from [[Guatemala]], had died while in custody of US Customs.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Nick Miroff |author2=Robert Moore| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/7-year-old-migrant-girl-taken-into-border-patrol-custody-dies-of-dehydration-exhaustion/2018/12/13/8909e356-ff03-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html?noredirect=on |date=December 13, 2018|title=7-year-old migrant girl taken into Border Patrol custody dies of dehydration, exhaustion |work=The Ashington Post |access-date=2024-12-23}}</ref> The girl's family denied she did not have enough food to eat before she died.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/girl-who-crossed-border-dad-died-border-patrol-custody-n947811 |title=7-year-old girl who crossed border with father dies in U.S. custody |website=NBC News |date=14 December 2018 |access-date=2024-12-23}}</ref>

===Estimated number of smuggled individuals===

Because of the clandestine nature of people smuggling operations, information currently available is scattered and incomplete. As such, verifiable or even reliable figures are difficult, if not impossible to come by, and the data on the number of smuggled individuals is tenuous at best. However, as of 2005, it was estimated that upwards of 350,000 illegal immigrants are smuggled across America's border from Mexico each year, and as many as 800,000 enter the European Union.<ref name="economist2005"/>

===Estimated costs===

Smugglers' fees vary from destination to destination, but on the whole, they have risen dramatically over the years. The prices paid to human smugglers by immigrants vary depending on the geographic location. For border crossings such as from Mexico into the United States, human smugglers can charge up to $4,000, while trans-Pacific crossings of, for example, Chinese immigrants into the United States can cost up to $75,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.havocscope.com/prices/human-smuggling-fees/ |title=Human Smuggling Fees |website=www.havocscope.com |access-date=16 April 2010}}</ref> These prices are significantly steeper than they were a decade ago, as demand for smuggling services continues to rise, operations become more complex, and costs of smuggling individuals become higher.