draining development.pdf - Khazar University

176 Draining Development?shocking, it is far from clear that all migrants who are treated as goods tobe exploited are acting involuntarily. What of migrants who turn themselvesinto transportable commodities because they expect to obtain abetter price for their work in a target country? Classic economics theorywould hold that such a decision may be deemed rational within a normaleconomic framework because no one is better placed than the individualto know whether what he is doing is in his self-interest no matterwhether or not his decision turns out, in the end, to have been a goodcalculation. Tens of thousands (perhaps even hundreds of thousands) ofclandestine migrants who cross the Mexican–United States border eachyear purchase the services of smugglers and become part of the flow ofsmuggled human beings. The persistence of the flow and the fact that thesame individuals may recross the border several times, depending uponthe state of the employment market (and the riskiness of the crossing),can be taken to indicate that the decision is voluntary.And, yet, those who might initially be thought merely to be purchasingthe services of smuggling networks can, in effect, become subject totrafficking. Massive illegal immigration and the strengthening of controls(for example, with the fence along extensive sectors of the Mexico–United States border) have created situations in which border crossinghas become an industry. To improve their chances of successfully crossingthe border, candidates for illegal immigration appeal to undergroundnetworks for human smuggling. Crossing the border with a networkenables one to benefit from the network’s investments (trucks, corruption,tunnels, and so on), but such a choice also exposes one to greatdanger. To avoid endangering their investments, or simply to skimp oncosts, smugglers are sometimes prepared to dispose of their humancargo in the sea or in the desert. Furthermore, the condition of absolutedependence into which the individual is placed if he has put his destinyinto the hands of people running a network exposes him to all sorts ofrisks, sometimes dramatic. Clandestine migrants can be robbed of theirpapers and money; they can be raped and killed. In such circumstances,it becomes disingenuous to maintain that they are not being treated asmerchandise.If one considers, furthermore, that the basis on which the decision tomigrate is made may already be determined in part by the smugglingnetworks, the category of voluntary migration becomes even more prob-