By The Mixed Migration Centre

Indonesia is a destination country for refugees, and a key transit country, for refugees intending to be resettled to third countries, as well as for those seeking to journey onwards to Malaysia. According to the UNHCR, as of November 2022, 71% of refugees in Indonesia are from Afghanistan, Somalia, Myanmar and Bangladesh. This snapshot finds that Afghan, Somali and Rohingya 4Mi respondents engage with smugglers in very different ways to reach Indonesia. It examines the routes taken by respondents, interactions with smugglers, and perceptions of smugglers’ roles in their migratory journey.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 12p.

By Mohamed Daghar

Summary: In September 2014 Kenya banned the exportation of labour to the Middle East because workers were being trafficked by criminal networks offering them jobs. This policy brief focuses on the criminals who continue to drive this market and examines attempts by the government and other stakeholders to outlaw the practice. While the measures in place are commendable, they are inadequate. Many gaps still enable criminals to continue operating in a lucrative, quasi-regulated market. The field study conducted revealed that human trafficking persists in Kenya. Key findings ∙ Kenyans trafficked to the Middle East are often exposed to inhumane conditions that many reports describe as ‘modern slavery’. ∙ Despite reforms intended to prevent this, the trafficking of Kenyans to the Middle East continues. ∙ Stakeholders approach the issue mainly as a human rights concern rather than as a humantrafficking crime. ∙ The interventions in place are inadequate and the exclusive focus on rights has diverted attention from the criminality involved. ∙ Reassessing the problem as human trafficking will shift attention to Kenya’s ability to both protect its workers abroad and combat transnational crime.

ENACT - Africa, 2020. 16p.

By Lucia Bird.

Domestic laws criminalising human smuggling in Africa diverge significantly from the approach set out in the UN Smuggling Protocol.

This brief analyses how African states have criminalised human smuggling in their nation. This research found that 22 states have criminalised the ‘smuggling of migrant’s broadly as defined in the UN Smuggling Protocol, which specifies that the intent of the perpetrator must be to reap a ‘financial or material benefit.’ It finds that even these states have diverged significantly from the approach set out in the Smuggling Protocol, and highlights concerning trends before recommending best practice.

ENACT - Africa, 2020. 12p.

By Mouhamadou Kane and Mamadou Abdoul Wane

Taking children from Guinea-Bissau to Senegal and forcing them to beg on the streets has become the most visible form of human trafficking in both countries. Many Quranic teachers and intermediaries prey on vulnerable families in Guinea-Bissau. Offering religious instruction in Senegal, they take advantage of families’ ignorance of the fate awaiting their children once they are handed over. This criminal activity enables the teachers, who collect the money given to children as alms, to dispose of a large amount of illicit capital which they inject with impunity into important sectors of the economy such as real estate, trade and transport. Key findings • Deep poverty, religious fervour and ambition for their children drive many rural parents in Guinea-Bissau to place them in the care of Quranic teachers, or marabouts, based in Senegal. • Once trafficked to Senegal, the children are not taught the Quran, as promised. Instead, they are forced to beg for alms and to hand the takings over to the marabouts. • Although officials in both Senegal and Guinea-Bissau deplore the system, a combination of respect and fear of the marabouts’ power forestalls action. • It is left to non-governmental organisations to rescue the children and return them to POLICY BRIEF their families.

ENACT - Africa, 2021. 12p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

Edited by Jabari Asim

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “In the course of completing this book, I have on more than one occasion fielded well-intentioned queries regarding the progress of "Twelve Angry Men," although I have never burdened this project with such a broad and inaccurate title. I realize that misperceptions of this sort can be seen as illustrating the extent to which Reginald Rose's play has penetrated American imaginations, but they more likely result from people of various ethnicities quickly assuming that any black man's contribution to discussions of justice will inevitably be angry. It's ironic that no matter what subject is being addressed, convenient categorization becomes a trap that we black men must evade if we want to be heard, much less understood. Our fellow citizens' inability (or, in some cases, unwillingness) to recognize our true selves accompanies our struggle across widely disparate contexts. It is as easy to see us as angry as it is to assume that we are criminal-minded. While anger is certainly expressed in these pages, it is merely one of a host of responses, as varied and eloquent as the men who have written them….”

NY. Harper Collins. 2001. 185p.

By American Immigration Council

From the document: "The United States has broad authority to detain certain categories of migrants and others seeking humanitarian protection as their proceedings wind their way through the immigration legal system. This detention is 'civil' by definition (as opposed to criminal), meaning that it should not be punitive in nature. Despite this technical legal distinction, most immigration detention infrastructure is indistinguishable from the criminal detention context, in some instances using the same facilities and private corporations to operate detention centers and jails. [...] Alternatives to detention (ATDs) are defined as 'any legislation, policy or practice, formal or informal, that ensures people are not detained for reasons relating to their migration status. Alternatives to detention can refer to a wide range of programs that run the gamut from no governmental intervention to extensive surveillance and restrictions on liberties. Generally, alternatives to detention in the immigration context fall into the following categories: 1. Release on your own recognizance (i.e., no detention and no conditions on release)[;] 2. Release on conditions[;] 3. Release on bail/bond or other surety[;] 4. Community-based supervised release or case management[;] 5. Designated residence at a specific accommodation center[;] 6. Electronic tagging and/or tracking[;] 7. Home curfews[.]"

American Immigration Council. 2023. 10p.

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Alexander Stille

FROM THE COVER: “In Turin, Ettore Ovazza founded a Jewish fascist movement and met with Mussolini, while Vitorio Foa joined the antifascist underground and went to prison after being betrayed by someone from his own group. In Rome, the Di Verolis lived outside of time, working as peddlers in a ghetto older than Christ-until the Germans arrived. In Genoa, Massimo Teglio worked hand-in-glove with the Catholic Church to save hundreds of Jews. And the Schönheits of Ferrara helped administer an Italian concentration camp, until being deported to Germany themselves and making their miraculous return.

This extraordinary montage--combining interview, narrative, and the evocation of Italian culture-depicts the lives of five Italian Jewish families whose experiences embody the paradoxical climate of benevolence and betrayal, and resurrects a forgotten and deeply tragic era in the history of two peoples.

"An achievement that deserves to stand next to the most insightful fiction about life and death under fascism." -Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times.

London. Penguin 1991. 362p

Edited by: Kate Ekama , Lisa Hellman and Matthias van Rossum

The study of slavery and coerced labour is increasingly conducted from a global perspective, and yet a dual Eurocentric bias remains: slavery primarily brings to mind the images of Atlantic chattel slavery, and most studies continue to be based – either outright or implicitly – on a model of northern European wage labour. This book constitutes an attempt to re-centre that story to Asia. With studies spanning the western Indian Ocean and the steppes of Central Asia to the islands of South East Asia and Japan, and ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, this book tracks coercion in diverse forms, tracing both similarities and differences – as well as connections – between systems of coercion, from early sales regulations to post-abolition labour contracts. Deep empirical case studies, as well as comparisons between the chapters, all show that while coercion was entrenched in a number of societies, it was so in different and shifting ways. This book thus not only shows the history of slavery and coercion in Asia as a connected story, but also lays the groundwork for global studies of a phenomenon as varying, manifold and contested as coercion.

Bonn: De Gruyter, 2022. 228p.

By Adam Isacson, Ana Lucia Verduzco, and Maureen Meyer

Over 10 days in late April and early May 2023, a team of researchers from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) visited Honduras to examine the challenges of migration at a historic moment of human mobility in the Americas. We wanted to understand international migration through Honduras, which grew quickly from a trickle to a torrent after migration through Panama’s treacherous Darién Gap region began on a large scale in 2021. WOLA and other groups have examined the migration phenomenon in the U.S.-Mexico and Mexico-Guatemala border regions, and other organizations have looked at the DariÈn Gap. The situation of migrants crossing Honduras, however, has received very little attention….

Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 2023. 29p.

By Thomas Pearson

This dissertation consists of three chapters concerning migration and immigration policy. The first chapter studies how increased U.S. deportations affect Mexican labor markets using variation in migrant networks and Secure Communities (SC), a policy which expanded local immigration enforcement. I show that in the short run, deportations increase return migration and decrease monthly earnings for local Mexicans with less than a high school degree. Deportations also increase net outflows within Mexico and emigration to the U.S. The negative short run effects are not driven by falls in remittance income or increases in crime as deportations increase both the share of households receiving remittances and the total amount received and they do not affect homicide rates. The results instead point to increased labor market competition as a result of return migration. Lastly, I show that the negative short run effects of this labor supply shock are larger in localities with worse infrastructure and less access to the financial sector. These results help explain the large negative effects on earnings as many migrants return to less developed regions where these frictions are prevalent. The second chapter studies how immigration status affects crime reporting and victimization. I focus on Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy that temporarily protects youth from deportation and provides work authorization. For identification, I compare likely undocumented immigrants around the policy's age eligibility cut-off over time. DACA eligibility of the victim increased the likelihood that the crime was reported to the police, which is consistent with DACA reducing fears of deportation. DACA eligibility also decreased victimization rates for women. Overall, the results suggest that immigrant legalization increases engagement with police and reduces the likelihood of victimization. …

Boston: Boston University, 2022. 255p.

By Sandra V. Rozo , Therese Anders, Steven Raphael

We study whether the forced removal of undocumented immigrants from the United States increases violent crime in Mexican municipalities. Using municipal panel data on homicide rates matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico, we assess whether municipalities with repatriation points experience higher violent crime with surges in deportation flows. We consistently find that municipalities with greater geographic exposure to deportation flows have higher violent crime. The effects are mostly driven by increments in homicide rates of young males and minors.

GLO Discussion Paper, No. 545. Global Labor Organisation, 2020. 33p.

By EUROPOL

Migrant smuggling continues to pose a challenge for police forces across the European Union. The criminal networks involved are complex and highly organised, diversifying routes and modus operandi in order to evade detection and increase profits. Meanwhile, migrants themselves are forced to risk their lives on the dangerous and unsafe transports offered by migrant smuggling networks. In this spotlight report, we cover the most important developments in the migrant smuggling landscape. The report details what the main features of modern migrant smuggling networks are, and how these networks administer themselves. It also explains phenomena such as criminal networks operating together in ‘joint ventures’, where illicit actors cooperate at various stages in the migrant smuggling chain.

Europol Spotlight Report series. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2023. 10p.

By The Mixed Migration Centre

This paper set out to explore experiences of abuse or exploitation among Nigerians during their migration journey, and how use of social media relates to a sense of increased risk or protection. In doing so it examines factors of gender, preferred destination and particularly smuggler use.

This paper is based on 423 quantitative interviews carried out with Nigerian refugees and migrants on the move through West and North Africa who had used social media during their migration journey. The quantitative data is complemented by insights from qualitative interviews on the use of social media conducted in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in August 2022 with a range of key informants including smugglers and travel facilitators, migrants, and experts from a range of civil society organizations, NGOs and international organizations.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 11p.

By The Mixed Migration Centre

The Central Sahel countries of Mali and Niger are migration crossroads, both in terms of intra-regional migration and for journeys to North Africa or towards Europe on the Western and Central Mediterranean Routes. It is difficult to know the proportion of migrants passing through these countries who have used smugglers during their journey. However, the use of smugglers by migrants appears to be a common phenomenon.

This paper has been prepared by the Mixed Migration Centre within the framework of a UNODC-OHCHR joint initiative (PROMIS) funded by the Government of the Netherlands, aimed at promoting a human rights-based response to smuggling of migrants and to respond to human rights abuses related to irregular migration in West Africa. It is based on 4Mi data collected with migrants in Mali and Niger in 2021. Using data from respondents who used a smuggler during at least one part of their journey, it examines respondents’ perceptions of their smuggler(s) and rationale for using them. It also looks at abuses and perpetrators cited by those who have used a smuggler; assistance and information needed en route; and perceived risks to children.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 20p.

By Rosalind Raddatz and Matthew Kerby

This paper explores the rarely examined experiences of unaccompanied refugee minors in Nairobi, Kenya. Children are thought to comprise up to a third of Nairobi's refugee population, however, there is virtually no data on them. The paper provides a first analysis of a unique dataset to ascertain unaccompanied minor refugees’ experiences of physical, emotional, resource related, and sexual violence. Our research findings indicate widespread violence among refugee children living in Nairobi, and denote the prevalence of several kinds of violence in particular. Our results also reveal which children are most at risk and the type of abuse they are most likely to experience.

International Migration Review Online First, 2023.

By Priscilla Solano https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7636-385priscilla.solano@soc.lu.sand Douglas S. Massey

Drawing on the concept of a “complex humanitarian crisis,” this paper describes how outflows of migrants from Central America were transformed into such a crisis by intransigent immigration and border policies enacted in both Mexico and the United States. We describe the origins of the migration in U.S. Cold War interventions that created many thousands of displaced people fleeing violence and economic degradation in the region, leading to a sustained process of undocumented migration to the United States. Owing to rising levels of gang violence and weather events associated with climate change, the number of people seeking to escape threats in Central America has multiplied and unauthorized migration through Mexico toward the United States has increased. However, the securitization of migration in both Mexico and the United States has blocked these migrants from exercising their right to petition for asylum, creating a growing backlog of migrants who are subject to human rights violations and predations both by criminals and government authorities, leading migrants to label Mexican routes northward as a “corridor of death.” We draw on data from annual reports of Mexico's Red de Documentación de las Organizaciones Defensoras de Migrantes (Network for the Documentation of Migrant Defense Organizations) to construct a statistical profile of transit migrants and the threats they face as reported by humanitarian actors in Mexico. These reports allow us to better understand the practical realities of the “complex humanitarian crisis” facing undocumented migrants, both as unauthorized border crossers and as transit migrants moving between the southern frontiers of Mexico and the United States.

Journal on Migration and Human SecurityVolume 10, Issue 3, September 2022, Pages 147-172

By Isabel Gil-Everaert https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6426-2igil@colmex.mx, Claudia Masferrer, and Oscar Rodríguez Chávez

This paper explores the ways in which contemporary mobility dynamics in Mexico have changed over the last decade, leading to protracted displacement. It focuses on three populations: (1) the internally displaced due to violence; (2) Mexican nationals returning from the United States, both voluntarily and due to deportation; and (3) populations seeking asylum in Mexico and the United States. These three populations are not usually analyzed together and do not squarely fall under the traditional legal definitions. The paper outlines ways that situations of protracted displacement and insecurity present challenges in four interconnected arenas of life: housing, legal status, employment, and emotional well-being. For governments and local communities, protracted displacement requires immediate humanitarian responses and the development and implementation of public policies focused on integration. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations based on its findings.

Journal on Migration and Human SecurityVolume 11, Issue 1, March 2023, Pages 125-148

By The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General

We conducted this evaluation to review CBP’s screening process of a suspected terrorist and the timing of ICE’s subsequent arrest following the suspected terrorist’s release into the United States. What We Recommend - We made three recommendations to ensure CBP effectively resolves inconclusive Terrorist Watchlist matches and ICE has immediate access to Global Positioning System data relevant to its law enforcement operations.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2023. 24p.

By Michael A. Clemens

A recent surge in child migration to the U.S. from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala has occurred in the context of high rates of regional violence. But little quantitative evidence exists on the causal relationship between violence and international emigration in this or any other region. This paper studies the relationship between violence in the Northern Triangle and child migration to the United States using novel, individual-level, anonymized data on all 178,825 U.S. apprehensions of unaccompanied child migrants from these countries between 2011 and 2016. It finds that one additional homicide per year in the region, sustained over the whole period – that is, a cumulative total of six additional homicides – caused a cumulative total of 3.7 additional unaccompanied child apprehensions in the United States. The explanatory power of short-term increases in violence is roughly equal to the explanatory power of long-term economic characteristics like average income and poverty. Due to diffusion of migration experience and assistance through social networks, violence can cause waves of migration that snowball over time, continuing to rise even when violence levels do not.

published in: Journal of Urban Economics, 2021, 124, 103355. Bonn: Center for Global Development & IZA Institute of Labor Economics, 2021. 56p.

By Elaine K. Denny, David Dow, Gabriella Levy Mateo, Villamizar-Chaparro

How does extortion experienced during the migration journey affect the civic engagement of deported migrants returned to their home country? More broadly, how does extortion affect political participation? Little is known about either the political behavior of returnees or about how coercive economic shocks experienced during migration affect subsequent levels of political participation. More broadly, existing literature on how victimization affects political participation is inconclusive, particularly when combined with existing work on economic insecurity. Studying deported migrants and the quasi-random experience of extortion helps address the endogeneity that often confounds these analyses. This approach isolates the impact of extortion on political action from potentially confounding factors related to local security or corruption. Using a novel dataset concerning Guatemalan migrants returned to Guatemala by the U.S. government, this paper finds that extortion has a direct, positive relationship with multiple forms of civic action, and that, at least in this context, the mobilizing effects of economic hardship outweigh the potentially demobilizing effects of fear of crime

Policy Research Working Paper 10020 . Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022. 36p.