DHS Launches Novel Campaign to Combat Human Smuggling Networks
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has launched an interagency campaign to combat human smuggling involving over 1,3000 personnel in Latin America and along the Southwest Border. DHS has committed to investing over $50 million for the effort to overcome this “critical law enforcement and border security challenge,” according to a release last week.
Smugglers often use force, fraud, or coercion to lure in migrant victims looking for a path to the United States. An increase in migration from the Central American has resulted in a growth of transnational criminal organizations exploiting these migrants for financial gain. “[S]ophisticated international criminal organizations [are] profiting from the multibillion-dollar human smuggling industry. They are often affiliates or wholly owned subsidiaries of violent drug cartels and transnational gangs wreaking violence in Mexico and the Northern Triangle,” the Department release explains.
DHS further explains that human smuggling has become a tool for transnational criminal organizations to force migrants into labor and commercial sexual exploitation. As a result, “The line between human smuggling and human trafficking is blurred. Those who hire human smugglers can become the victims of human traffickers.”
Consequently, the Biden Administration has launched a “first-of-its-kind effort, unprecedented in scale” campaign to disrupt the smuggling networks. The campaign has five core pillars:
Operation Expanded Impact: An enhanced investigative effort led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). HSI has deployed more than 700 additional personnel to support DHS enforcement efforts along the Southwest Border and across Latin America with partner nations.
Operation Sentinel: Identifies human smugglers and their associates to restrict their ability to travel, conduct commerce, or finance their operations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) National Targeting Center (NTC) leads this effort through its unique systems and analytical capabilities to identify suspicious activities and persons, which information CBP operationalizes through its border authorities and partnerships with other agencies.
Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA): Law enforcement taskforce, which is led by the Department of Justice and supported by DHS. The taskforce focuses on the investigation and prosecution of the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking networks operating in Mexico and the Northern Triangle.
Financial Disruption: Led by the Treasury Department, which identifies opportunities to leverage its unique authorities to disrupt human smuggler financial assets.
Intelligence Community (IC): Support for these efforts have been enhanced through the Migration Crises Cell led by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. This support is focused on providing improved indications and warnings of illegal migrant movements and identifying human smuggling networks. DHS is helping to improve intelligence capabilities by expanding on its existing Migration Indications and Warning Cell.
DHS will lead the effort alongside international partners and related agencies. The campaign, which officially began in April, has resulted in 30,000 law enforcement actions to disrupt and dismantle human smuggling organizations in Latin America. These actions include seizing financial assets, raiding stash houses that hide migrants, impounding busses and tractor trailers used to smuggle migrants, and seizing illicit cargo.
According to DHS, law enforcement have arrested nearly 2,000 smugglers in the last eight weeks. This represents a 600% increase in law enforcement actions against human smuggling organization compared to previous years.
Despite the effort’s success, DHS warns that smuggling organizations are responding with changes in tactics to evade law enforcement. DHS is noticing that routes smugglers use to smuggle migrants are changing, stash house locations are being shifted away from the immediate border, and prices for smuggling has increased while no longer guaranteeing migrants successful passage across the border.
DHS estimates the law enforcement efforts, as well as related factors, has slowed, stopped, or reversed the flow of approximately 900 migrants each day.