The Economics of Human Smuggling

Anthropologist Jason De León has spent a career documenting the stories of migrants making their way across the Sonoran Desert at the Southern US border. But in his new book, “Soldiers And Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling,” De León turns his gaze towards the smugglers. For nearly seven years, he embedded with a group of smugglers moving migrants across Central America and Mexico, following them as they led people north. We’ll talk to him about his book, what he learned from this rare look into this side of the billion-dollar industry and what can be done to address the global migration crisis.

Guest:

Jason De León, author, “Soldiers And Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling"; director, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology; professor of anthropology and Chicana, Chicano, and Central American Studies, UCLA

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