ABSTRACT
The war against migrant smuggling and its actors – described as the men behind the facilitation of migrants’ irregular journeys – are key elements of migration and border control policy worldwide. Aside from making considerable financial commitments to the fight against smugglers and their networks, countries like Australia, the United States and the EU have systematically mobilized a specific narrative about the identity and nature of migrant smuggling facilitators, to whom the journeys of irregular migrants are almost single-handedly attributed. This chapter examines some of the most common claims brought up in smuggling discourse and policy circles. It dentifies and challenges five of the most basic common misconceptions connected with smuggling: (1) its structure, (2) its gendered, ethnic and/or racialized characterization, (3) its reliance on a business model, (4) its connections to organized crime and (5) its reliance on sophisticated technology and equipment.
