Mr. Speaker. we have all become familiar with the Byzantine route by which narcotics enter this countryfrom the opium fields to the processing plants to smugglers. Just as narcotics are smuggled into the country by individuals and rings. so too are thousands of illegal aliens. Smuggling is dirty business. and it is especially dirty when it involves human beings. The amount of criminality involved boggles the imagination. We have thousands of these smugglers operating as individuals or in rings. and there is no figure available on the number of counterfeiting rings which supply the alien with the documents he will use once in this country to obtain employment fraudulently. There has been tragedy. too. where these sordid dealers in human flesh have stuffed their "customers" in car trunks to get them across the border only to end the trip with corpses. Smuggling. according to immigration officials. is a profitable business. and the smuggler. even if caught and fined. usually goes right back to work. The problem is particularly acute on the Mexican border because of the plight of the Mexican economy. and even though most of our border guards are assigned to this area. untold thousands are slipped through each year. Immigration officials estimate that 3.000 smugglers were caught last year while transporting 18.000 illegal aliens. The figures for this year are expected to be about the same. Smugglers make anywhere from $50 to $300 per "customer." and because they are usually paid in advance. they are willing to risk arrest and a fine.
Identified stereotypes
Generalization that illegal aliens are smuggled into the country and use counterfeit documents to obtain employment fraudulently.