Lagdameo, "Human smuggling from Fujian to New York," 2008

Mary Angela Lagdameo

Abstract (Summary)
Since the first significant wave of illegal Fujianese immigrants to the United States in mid-1980, their migrant population in New York's Chinatown has increased to an estimated 300,000. Although the Golden Venture incident in 1993 prompted the United States and Chinese government to increase crackdowns on human smuggling operations, smugglers have continued to successfully transport illegal Fujianese to the United States. Fujian's history of migration and the local perception that human smuggling is a legitimate business fuels a transnational human smuggling business in the 21 st century. Recent scholarship suggests that human smuggling is run by "ordinary individuals" who create temporary alliances for the purposes of money making. In order to successfully dismantle human smuggling organizations, the United States and Chinese governments should therefore focus on catching individuals who work at all levels of the human smuggling business.

Advisor: Cooper, Eugene
Committee members: Rosen, Stanley,  Birge, Bettine