Comparative Study on Smuggling Crimes (Volume 8)

Author: Dan Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Strictly speaking, illegal immigration is not a criminal offense in the field of criminal law. Illegal immigration is a colloquial term used by the Chinese academic and judicial communities to refer to various forms of crimes involving illegal entry or exit of a country. These crimes are, however, subject to the constraints of criminal law and other laws. Accurately speaking, illegal immigration refers to international illegal immigration activities, which involve illegal entry or exit of a country (border). By definition, illegal immigration is the act of entering or exiting a country (border) without the authorization of the national border management authorities, thereby disrupting the management order of the exporting and importing countries and the immigration system. Therefore, illegal immigration constitutes an infringement on the national sovereignty of the exporting and importing countries, while severely affecting their national security and social stability. As a result, all countries maintain a stern stance against illegal immigration. Chapter 6 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, which deals with crimes that obstruct the order of social management, is designed to combat and prevent illegal immigration. Since the harm caused by illegal immigration varies from country to country, some countries are countries of illegal immigration exit, some are countries of illegal immigration entry, and others are countries of illegal immigration transit. Consequently, the penalties for illegal immigration are also differently across countries. In addition to China, which explicitly stipulates six crimes under Section 3 of Chapter 6 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China that deals with crimes obstructing the order of social management, most countries in the world only regulate measures against illegal immigration in administrative regulations, primarily through provisions in the Immigration Law. Therefore, a comparative study of illegal immigration, if conducted solely from a criminological perspective without systematic analysis and clarification of its internal structure from the perspective of crime composition, would fail to provide a comprehensive examination of illegal immigration—a global challenge.
In relevant United Nations documents, illegal immigration is referred to as "human trafficking," "illegal immigration," "population smuggling," and similar terms, which are also adopted and regulated in the immigration laws of many countries worldwide. Thus, studying illegal immigration inevitably involves immigration law and related administrative regulations.
How severe is illegal immigration? According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations research institutions, the number of people engaged in or involved in illegal immigration worldwide, even by conservative estimates, is approximately 100 million. Over the past 400 years, only 11.5 million people have been trafficked out of Africa. However, in the past 10 years, illegal immigration has surged globally, with China, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet republics becoming "hotspots" of illegal immigration, with the number of illegal immigrants far exceeding the 400-year population of African slaves. A report published by the International Organization for Migration, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2003 stated that one in every 35 people in the world is an immigrant, with a total of 175 million immigrants worldwide, accounting for 3% of the global population, of whom 47.5% are women. This is an increase of 30 million compared to 10 years ago and has reached an all-time high. Over the past 40 years, more and more people have left their homelands to settle in other countries, some seeking better development opportunities due to global wealth disparities, while others have been forced to leave due to hunger, war, natural disasters, and other calamities. "Especially, many illegal immigrants become prostitutes or de facto slaves to pay for their smuggling fees, or are forced to work under harsh conditions, enduring exploitation."
With the dissolution of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1990s, China's further reform and opening-up, and the unstoppable momentum of economic globalization breaking down economic and political barriers among countries and regions, as well as the frequent conflicts in many countries and regions worldwide, have further fueled illegal immigration. China has also been severely affected by the global wave of illegal immigration since the 1990s. Since the 1990s, approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Chinese have left the mainland annually, with about 200,000 of them illegally entering the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and other developed countries with the help of smuggling groups. Organized smuggling groups that facilitate illegal immigration of Chinese have been discovered in most European countries. The number of illegal immigrants in Europe, including Albanians from Kosovo, Kurds from Iraq, Romani people from Eastern Europe, and Afghans, increased by approximately 1 million between 1991 and 1998, with the number of illegal immigrants entering the European Union estimated to be between 120,000 and 500,000. The United States accepts 1.4 million legal immigrants annually, plus more than 300,000 illegal immigrants. The other nine countries with the largest number of illegal immigrants are India, Pakistan, France, Germany, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Iran. According to United Nations statistics, the annual trade in smuggling illegal immigrants is as high as $4 billion, with some data indicating it may be as high as $9 billion. Since the profits from illegal immigration are underground "black money," precise statistics are impossible, so we can only accept the United Nations' figure for now. Although its total profits still cannot compare to drug trafficking, its rising trend is already very evident. Pino Arlacchi, Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said, "Given the scale of people involved, profits, and the diversity of human trafficking activities, human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. If all human trafficking activities are combined, it is undoubtedly the largest human rights violation in the world."
At its core, illegal immigration is the act of migrating to another country without legal means. This act not only significantly impacts the national reputation, sovereignty, social order, and economic development of the exporting country but also brings great shocks to the national reputation, sovereignty, social order, and economic development of the importing country. It also greatly affects normal international order and relations. What is particularly serious is that the organizers of illegal immigration—smugglers—have allied with criminal organizations in Europe, America, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia, forming extremely large transnational illegal immigration groups. Therefore, illegal immigration is no longer just the personal illegal act of an illegal immigrant but has evolved into a form of transnational organized crime. The tragic death of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants in Dover, England, is a prime example of a transnational illegal immigration case planned by international smuggler organizations.
Thus, combating illegal immigration is no longer an internal matter for a single country but a responsibility and obligation for the entire international community. If governments of various countries act unilaterally, blame each other, engage in mutual recriminations, and ignore illegal immigration, then the international community will be unable to form a strong united front to curb this global, organized crime.
So, how does illegal immigration occur? Why do so many people choose to migrate to other countries through illegal means? Most illegal immigrants are ordinary people. Why would they be willing to pay smugglers huge sums of money, even at the risk of their lives, to reach the United States, Europe, and other economically developed countries? This is indeed a deeply thought-provoking question.
Since illegal immigration is a collection of various criminal forms involving numerous countries and regions with significant differences, its causes and consequences are closely linked to the political systems, economic development levels, historical cultures, and customs of one country and others. Therefore, studying illegal immigration involves a very broad scope. While this book provides a comprehensive examination of illegal immigration and the measures and cooperative trends of the international community in combating it, it also attempts to analyze the causes of illegal immigration from a sociological perspective to explore more rational approaches to preventing and addressing illegal immigration.