Category: Drug Trafficking

Introduction

It refers to people who have migrated to the country in violation of the country’s immigration laws or who do not have legal residency to continue to live. The most common pattern of illegal immigration is the development of countries with low socioeconomic levels to more developed countries. This could lead to the risk of immigration detention or deportation or other sanctions. Some movements discourage the use of the term ‘illegal immigration’, often based on the argument that day-to-day behavior does not make people themselves illegal, but ‘illegal immigration.’ The study identified 124 countries where illegal immigration is strictly considered a crime. The countries involved in the investigation showed extensive punishment for undocumented immigrants, including deportation, fines, detention, community service and various prison terms. Depending on the circumstances of entry, the length of imprisonment may range from months to fifteen years. Undocumented entrants are exempt from punishment only if they seek asylum or are entitled to international protection. Crossing the restricted area is not the only way to the illegal immigration process. Sometimes a person enters a country legally but violates the terms and conditions of his visa and passport. If he stays overdue in the country of destination and exceeds the time allowed by law, it also illustrates illegal immigration.

Impacts of Illegal Immigration

Whether or not these foreigners cross the border legally, immigration does bring benefits to the national economy. However, in the pre-industrial period, environmental factors such as drought, unemployment, overpopulation, earthquakes or fatal diseases, pollution and the atmosphere made migration a problem for any developed or developing country.

• Poverty: There is no need to imply that illegal immigrants are always poor under national standards. The poorest segments of the developing world may lack the resources needed to carry out illegal cross-border attempts, or lack contact with friends or family already in the destination country. Illegal immigrants entering the country are looking for jobs that offer higher wages, and they can’t even get paid in their own country. By hiring illegal immigrants, local citizens will lose their jobs because employers are more willing to get hired at a lower cost. Rising unemployment will lea
• Overpopulation: Overpopulation occurs when population growth exceeds the affordability of a certain area or environment. A surge in population can cause problems such as pollution, water crises and poverty. The world population has grown from 1.6 billion in 1900 to 6.7 billion today. A country already facing a demographic crisis could suffer further consequences from illegal immigration.
• Increased crime and social ills: Crimes committed by illegal immigrants with a criminal background have led to an increase in crime rates. Such criminal activities may include smuggling drugs and stealing identity documents from citizens to enable them to find employment. Another impact is that they use social services such as schools and health insurance, and the government must bear the cost of using these services. Trafficking and exploitation also affect the country, as migrants smuggle people. Many people are smuggled into the country each year, and most of them have no legal documents or their documents and identification documents are smuggled by smugglers, especially women and children.
• Increased government spending: In order to overcome the problem of illegal immigrants, the government must take strict measures to forcibly repatriate illegal immigrants to their home countries, resulting in increased costs.
• Relations between nations will be affected: Due to the problem of illegal immigration, it may affect relations with countries with diplomatic relations, such as Malaysia and Indonesia. If illegal immigration causes problems in other countries, the countries involved will have an adverse impact on citizens and the country itself.

Illegal Immigration in Pakistan

In 2012, a Pakistani official claimed that five million illegal immigrants live in Pakistan.Since early 2002, Pakistan’s government took steps to determine the number of illegal immigrants in its country. The National Alien Registration Authority (NARA) started registering illegal immigrants in January 2006. According to NARA, there were an estimated 1.8 million day crossers in Pakistan’s commercial capital Karachi in 2007. Others believe that there may be about 3.35 million illegal immigrants in Pakistan As of January 2010, the number of illegal alimmigrantsiens in Karachi was estimated to be between 1.6 and 2 million. Thousands of nationals from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan are illegally living in Karachi.This includes thousands of Muslim students from Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia studying in the Pakistani madrasahs,while thousands of women from Bangladesh and Burma are working as maids and prostitutes there; most of them are illegal aliens.According to some sources, thousands of radicals of Arab origin who entered the country illegally to fight in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979, and later against the US-led invasion in October 2001, still remain in the country.Although the presence of illegal aliens in Pakistan is against the law, the Government of Pakistan did not make a serious effort to deport them until January 2010 when Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik asked illegal aliens to either leave or register themselves with the department concerned, as a major crackdown would soon be initiated against them. This action was taken following the recent bomb attack and targeted killings of political activists in the city, against foreign militants operating in Pakistan.One of the important consequences of the Afghan conflict since the 1970s has been the massive inflow of the Afghan refugee population to the neighbouring Pakistan which in following years has brought about a number of demographic and security challenges to the Pakistani society. Therefore along with a number of factors, at this present juncture, Afghan refugees have also become a principal factor in determining Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy.There are presently 600,000 illegal Afghan refugees living in different parts of Pakistan The chief commissioner of Afghan refugees in Pakistan stated.

Illegal Immigration in U.S

Research shows that illegal immigrants increase the size of the U.S. economy/contribute to economic growth, enhance the welfare of natives, contribute more in tax revenue than they collect, reduce American firms’ incentives to offshore jobs and import foreign-produced goods, and benefit consumers by reducing the prices of goods and services.Economists estimate that legalization of the illegal immigrant population would increase the immigrants’ earnings and consumption considerably, and increase U.S. gross domestic product.The illegal immigrant population of the United States peaked by 2007, when it was at 12.2 million and 4% of the total U.S. population. Estimates in 2016 put the number of unauthorized immigrants at 10.7 million, representing 3.3% of the total U.S. population.There were 11.6 million immigrants from Mexico living in the United States in 2017, and fewer than half of them (43%) were in the country illegally, according to Pew Research Center estimates. Mexico is the country’s largest source of immigrants, making up 25% of all U.S. immigrants.As President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a variety of steps to reduce the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. – including through the increase of law enforcement agents at the southern border.The population of unauthorized Mexicans in the United States declined by a quarter between 2010 and 2018, the new immigration figures show, amid stepped-up deportations and an improved Mexican economy that has encouraged many people to go home voluntarily. Considering the current situation the US also took an initiative as President Donald Trump administered to use a health-focused statute to swiftly remove migrants or asylum seekers who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally as part of efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus. The United States’ top public health official, to block people or goods from certain countries or places to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

Drug Trafficking

Drug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws.The countries of drug production and transit are some of the most affected by the drug trade, though countries receiving the illegally imported substances are also adversely affected.In the majority of the countries, control and monitoring of the national drug supply and distribution channels, including precursors, are inefficient. This results not only in the ineffective control of pharmaceutical products, but also in the circulation of counterfeit medicines. Together these pose serious health and socio‑economic problems, they undermine law enforcement activities and confidence in public health services.

Drug Trafficking in Pakistan

Pakistan’s geographic location next to Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of illicit opium, places the country in a vulnerable position in terms of drug trafficking. The patterns of illicit drug production and distribution have seen transitions as a result of social, economic and political developments in the region.Trafficking from Afghanistan to Balochistan is believed to take place through the Afghan provinces of Helmand and Nimroz to the Pakistani districts of Chaghi and Nushki. Here, the trafficking is facilitated by the remoteness and inaccessibility of these scantily populated regions. According to the UNODC Afghan Poppy Survey Report 2017, the poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has increased from 7,606 hectares in 2001 to 328,000 hectares in 2017. It is an established fact that some officials in the drug control agencies are involved in corruption. These in collusion with the drug peddlers not only give protection to the drug peddlers, but also help in transportation of narcotics..Another challenge is that around 3 million Afghan refugees settled in Pakistan. Due to the unbridled movement of these refugees in the country, they can easily roam around the entire country; thus not only is law and order jeopardized but illegal drug trafficking is also facilitated.

Drug Trafficking in U.S

Data on drug seizures at the U.S. border indicate an alarming volume of trafficking taking place in recent years. Since 2009, heroin seizures at the southwestern border have almost tripled.Mexican transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) continue to dominate the U.S. drug market. They transport illicit drugs north across the U.S.-Mexico border. Traffickers move drugs through ports of entry, concealing them in passenger vehicles or commingling them with licit goods on tractor trailers. Traffickers also rely on cross-border subterranean tunnels and ultralight aircraft to smuggle drugs, as well as other transit methods such as cargo trains, passenger busses, maritime vessels, or backpackers/’mules”. While drugs are the primary goods trafficked by TCOs, they also generate income from other illegal activities such as the smuggling of humans and weapons, counterfeiting and piracy, kidnapping for ransom, and extortion.Federal law enforcement has a number of enforcement initiatives aimed at countering drug trafficking, both generally and at the Southwest border. For example, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program targets major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, with the intent to disrupt and dismantle them.

Conclusion

A lesser known effect of tighter United States or Pakistan`s border control and increased undocumented immigration is the rise of the smuggling industry in Mexico and Afghanistan. To start, it is important to realize that tighter border controls. Immigrants come to the United States for a variety of reasons. Oftentimes they come as a result of the United States’ demand for migrant labor, which pays more than the salaries they can receive at home. Furthermore, undocumented immigrants often times emigrate to the United States because they have many family members who already live there. Financial crunch and the level of unemployment in Afghanistan are some of the main reasons for such a large number of workers coming to Pakistan to earn a living as day crossers.In March 2012, Pakistan banned visa extensions for all foreigners. In September 2018, Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan made a surprise announcement pledging to grant citizenship to 1.5 million Afghan refugees resident in Pakistan. This promise, however, was not followed through. On the other hand,As stated in the White House Report on immigration, it is evident that both documented and undocumented workers and immigrants contribute to all walks of life, especially in the labor force. Moreover, evidence shows that as the number of immigrants increases, the United States economy continues to thrive as a result. That is why it is important that there are measures in place that provide undocumented immigrants living in the United States with a path to citizenship.Illegal immigration and drug trafficking work side by side.In the hope of seeking refuge in foreign countries, people are lured to smuggle drugs via illegal transportation systems.It is estimated through surveys that illegal immigration is a source of an economy boost as long as drug trafficking is eradicated or at least strict measurements are taken to minize it.

What are drug cartels? Drug cartels are commonly known as criminal organizations that have the intention of supplying drugs illegally and trafficking them to other countries, states, and cities. This discourse will examine the root causes of drug cartels in Mexico City, a city that is commonly known as violent due to the monumental drug cartels being located in different parts of it. First of all, let it be known that the headman of Mexico’s first cartel to sit in an American prison facility was not even Mexican at all. In fact, the kingpin of the first drug cartel in Mexico City is known as no other than Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros who was credited with being the heart of the cocaine eruption that took place in the 1970s and in the 1980s as well.

Around these years, the drug known as cocaine was spreading across America rapidly and the word even got to the ghettos but in the form of “crack”. These drugs eventually got into the United States and when they did, the U.S. citizens were the ones who spread the word and even got it out to the biggest number of consumers since neither the Mexicans nor the Colombians had any way of getting into white suburban America. Due to the eruption of the “nose candy” in America, an act called the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act was passed in the year 1914 by the 63rd United States congress which called for the banishing of cocaine in the U.S. Correspondingly, some individuals disliked and disagreed with the Harrison Anti-Narcotic Act that was passed which therefore caused a lot of smugglers to discreetly continue to bring the drug to the consumers that were attached to it and were begging for more. Because of all the talk and hype about cocaine in America, the dealers saw it as an opportunity to sell the drug for an insanely high price especially to their customers because it was illegal, meaning they were the only ones who could supply it since they would bring it from Mexico. Because the money they made was considered “drug money”, overlord Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros found a way to get the money back to the bandits in Medellin. By the early 1980s, there was a loose confederation of drug traffickers in the state of Colombia’s second-largest city, that being Medellin. Now Medellin had merged into something that would eventually be known as the Medellin Cartel which included drug lords like Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, etc.[footnoteRef:0] Later on, the gangsters of Medellin quickly became one the affluent criminals on the planet. All the drug money the traffickers were making by illegally selling crystal to individuals in the U.S. made them conceivably become one of the first drug smuggling billionaires in the narcotics business. The cocaine market was through the roof and once billions of dollars of cocaine money hit Mexico, it was no surprise that the drug trafficking would become bigger plus bloodier, due to the violence, than anybody could have ever imagined.[footnoteRef:1] [0: ] [1: ]

The drug cartels in Mexico City still continued in 2006 when President Felipe Calderon took office and a dangerous war with the drug cartels rose.[footnoteRef:2] A former Mexican Judicial Federal Police agent, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, had launched the very first Mexican cartel along with his partner Pablo Escobar, a Colombian cocaine trafficker, in Guadalajara in the year 1980. Felix Gallardo along with other of his peers started out just as a smuggling service until they demanded to get full partnership[footnoteRef:3] in the cartel and later became one of the greatest drug lords to be known. Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was arrested in the year 1989 but that did not stop him from continuing his business. Although Felix Gallardo was incarcerated, he resumed coordinating the trafficking of his drugs up until he was uprooted to Altiplano, what used to be known as well as the Centro Federal de Readaptacion Social Numero 1, in the state of Mexico in the 1990s.[footnoteRef:4] The drug cartels in Mexico City had started off by selling marijuana and then later turned to selling cocaine as well which resulted in the cartels getting involved in crucial crimes such as kidnappings (mainly young women) and extortion to smuggling illegal drug profits into the United States along with trafficking illicit immigrants. All of their actions brought attention to the U.S. government which caused them to set out a warrant for the traffickers’ arrest. This terrified Pablo Escobar because he did not want to be deported to the U.S to face drug- trafficking charges, so instead he decided to declare war on the Colombian State because he went by the slogan they created which was, “Better a grave in Colombia than a prison cell in the U.S”. Pablo Escobar was now engaged in a merciless war of attenuation with the government of Colombia which caused the Cali Cartel to assume that the greater importance was to facilitate the delivery of cocaine to the U.S from South America.[footnoteRef:5] [2: ] [3: ] [4:] [5:]

Furthermore, another former drug lord to be known as Juan Garcia Abrego started out his criminal profession by daily taking over and running his uncle, Juan Guerra, organization in the year of 1987. While Escobar was occupied with the war he had declared, Garcia Abrego was determined to do business with the Cali Cartel. When the Cali Cartel agreed to become part of Abregos’ operation, his illicit establishment was believed to be moving somewhere with forty tons of cocaine in the neighborhood and into the United States annually by the year 1989. Juan Garcia Abrego was able to expand his enterprise by purchasing large ranches that were South of Matamoros, Tamaulipas where planes from Colombia that were loaded with stardust could be able to land. These planes would smuggle this type of narcotics from Matamoros, Tamaulipas to Brownsville, Texas to Houston, Texas, and then to the distribution hubs that were to be located in Los Angeles and New York City. In the south of the border, the Gulf Cartel was expanding from the border towns of Tamaulipas, Reynosa, and as well as Nuevo Leon to the state capital of Ciudad Victoria and also the port of Tampico. The spread of drug trafficking organizations that was occurring in the borders, had marked the borders to become unsafe and deadly.[footnoteRef:6] [6:]

With that being said, these activities have claimed Mexico to be one of the greatest threats of drug trafficking to the United States since they have drug distributors in at least two hundred and thirty U.S. cities.[footnoteRef:7] Drug cartels not only consist of trafficking illegal drugs but as well as other illegal activities such as trafficking immigrants, weapons, illegal profits, and kidnapping. These illicit activities mainly occur in Mexico City since it is where the growing power started and still stands today.[footnoteRef:8] Due to all of these drug scandals, it has created a war between the U.S. Department of Defense and the cartels as former president Ronald Reagan once put it as, “Now we are in another war for our freedom” in 1986.[footnoteRef:9] What former president Ronald Reagan meant by his use of the words “another war for our freedom “ is that innocent people and children have to live in fear for their lives and the lives of their family and friends because they have to be on the lookout just in case the drug dealers try to do any harm to them. Drug violence has taken away children’s childhood, and has cost people their very own lives such as law enforcement officials, journalists, devious officials, informants, etc.[footnoteRef:10] [7: ] [8: ] [9: ] [10: ]

The drug cartels have cost many individuals their lives as well as family separation. When this got the former president’s attention, he had no choice but to declare war against the drug cartels that were taking place in his city, Mexico City, because they were causing too much trouble plus these dealers were performing illegal activities. Former president, Felipe Calderon, declared war on the cartels by having the military soldiers go out onto the streets to wipe out any drug trade that was occurring. The violence not only affected Mexico City but also the United States since the ferocity had spread to the United States as well.

The military raiding the streets for illegal drug commerce, caused some drug organizations to move from Mexico for safety taking the system of these cartels with them including the violence. For example, in the year 2002, an institution called, Los Palillos, which used to work for the Arrellano Felix organization moved to another part of Mexico City that is known as Tijuana and then proceeded to San Diego to hide from Calderon’s military soldiers. This institution not only moved to San Diego for their safety but also brought with them the violence of the drug cartels including the kidnappings, the killings, dissolving the dead bodies with acid, etc. Los Palillos has not been the only organization to relocate its cartels, in fact, many other drug institutions have risen and grown rapidly. New drug organizations have taken up the role of drug dealers as there are leadership positions to be filled since there had been changes in political protection, more killings and arrests, and the loyalty of allies faded.[footnoteRef:11] The new groups have been recruiting individuals from other drug organizations which caused threats to the other drug cartels. For example, a new organization from central Mexico known as the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, also known as CJNG, has risen as well as expanded rapidly which has made them a threat to another big cartel known as the Sinaloa since they had been losing a lot of their crew members to this new cartel. The Sinaloa cartel losing their comrades to the CJNG organization gave the traffickers no choice but to flip and become allies. [11: ]

In addition to The Sinaloa Cartel becoming so-called allies with the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, they both have become two of the biggest drug cartels to be known thus far. With these two drug cartels becoming allies, it meant there was about to be a huge change in the world, and not for the greater good. By both of these corporations becoming well known, it meant more violence was yet to come because now there were more than enough members to commit the crimes like kidnappings, killings, etc. About fifty-five thousand of Mexico’s organized crimes are mainly due to narcotic relations according to Mexican researchers who have been tracking the drug violence very closely in the city of Mexico.[footnoteRef:12] The violence that took place back then and is still occurring today impacted Mexico in a way that was not that good plus it meant the war between drugs had only gotten worse because now there are billions of individuals who are combating these drug traffickers in Mexico City and in the United States as well. As stated before, the bloodshed and violence in Mexico have spread into different parts of the U.S. which has resulted in better and more security at the borders. Making sure that security at the border between Mexico and the U.S was tight, meant that there was a prodigious hiring push in Border Patrol and National Guard troops to go work at any border that connected to Mexico because it has been reported that the drug traffickers have increased their attacks on U.S border patrol agents.[footnoteRef:13] Due to the drug trade getting out of hand and expanding, the United States and Central America decided to partner up with Mexico City to go after the drug contrabands while giving Mexico 2.3 billion dollars aside as part of their agreement for its public safety and security.[footnoteRef:14] To ensure the safety of their people, former president, Ronald Reagon, had successfully passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act in the year 1986. This act that was passed meant that the executive branch will have to certify the countries that have been getting assistance from the U.S. making sure that they are fully cooperating with the anti-narcotics policy in the US and not going against it or getting involved in any way. This drug war has been going on for years and years now and it never seems like it is coming to an end. The more people crave narcotics, the more individuals are going to supply them meaning it is going to be difficult to get the drugs off the streets. [12:] [13: ] [14: ]

Furthermore, not only are all of these dealings affecting the United States and Mexico City but also other countries, cities, and states. These drug cartels have relocated many times and have used violence to take over communities for their own necessities. Dealers have threatened and forced families to leave their colonies and their homes for their own use of drug production as well as using abandoned places like buildings, houses, storages, clubs, etc.[footnoteRef:15] Because of this, farmers were not able to support themselves or their families so they decided to join the drug market. The farmers noticed that they could make a lot more money which will be enough to help them get back on their feet by growing marijuana on their farms. For the farmers, the only way to survive on their land was to join the business even though it was bad. In addition, the kidnappings are mainly targeted at females because they are mainly used as a source to produce drugs. These dealers have the females either dressed in bikinis or just fully naked while constructing the narcotics to make sure that they are not hiding or stealing the supply they are making. To traffick drugs into other cities, countries, or states without getting caught themselves, they prefer women to do the job over males, especially if they are pregnant, because they do not look as suspicious as men usually do. Pregnant women are preferable to use as a tool for human drug trafficking because since they are gravid plus the dealers make them swallow the drug bullets, security or medical attendees can not perform x-rays on them since it could harm their baby, making it easier for them to transport the illegal narcotics. This is another method the drug dealers picked up when they were running out of ideas on how to get the drugs to other cartels without any holdbacks from the police or military checking vehicles that cross the border. This job was not as easy as it may sound or look because the individuals who decide to take part in this type of action are putting their lives at stake and the lives of their family members as well. Moreover, this causes more violence, especially towards the mules, because if something goes wrong or the mission is not complete, the cartels go after the mule and the mule family causing additional ferocity in the community. These drug cartels have to get created on finding a way to transport their supply to other cartels without getting exposed by border patrols or any other type of law enforcement. Because these cartels have been around for so many years now causing trouble and a lot of violence which brings themselves to the attention of the president(s) and to the attention of many law officials, many individuals have gotten to know their ways and how to spot the dealers out on the streets making it easy to stop and/or uncover. All of these activities have their own consequences and the main outcome is that it has built fear and brutality within the community/city and its people. In addition, when individuals, like journalists, try to write about these cartels to inform others about their illicit acts, they usually end up dead or get kidnapped. Most of the reporters end up deceased because the cartel leaders send an army of gang members to assassinate them to get rid of any disclosure that contains information about their unlawful businesses. Any bit of documentation that in some way unveiled specific details or just anything regarding the cartel’s wrongdoings, was used as an excuse to create more savagery by going after the people who documented it. In the event that law officials and presidents have tried to cease drug trafficking, they just made it worse. In my opinion, by them trying to put an end to these negotiations, they aggravated the situation in the way that it got more individuals to join the business. Most of the Mexican drug cartels can trace their roots back to the countryside of the state of Sinaloa because ever since they banned the narcotics and declared a drug war, more cartels have risen thereafter the influence of the first Mexican cartels being The Sinaloa Cartel and the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación. [15: ]

To conclude, the reason for the cartels in Mexico City is due to the prohibition of drugs in Mexico and in the United States because it did not stop people from supplying narcotics but did make them smuggle them into places illegally. With that being said, it sums up the answer to my research question which stated, “What is the root cause of drug cartels in Mexico?”. What I believe was achieved in this extended essay was a good understanding of what caused the first cartel to occur as well as why more and more cartels rose. In addition, this essay gives a brief interpretation of what kind of trouble and crimes these organizations have committed and the effect they had on their community. This paper provides good examples that may help the reader gain a better understanding of the violence that has been issued by these drug lords and their different ways of trafficking drugs illegally into other places. A question that hasn’t been resolved is, When are these cartels going to end?