People smuggling

The economics of human smuggling makes it nearly impossible to stop

The market is very competitive, so just targeting one smuggler wouldn’t make much of a difference. The other smugglers will jump on that opportunity and take his market share.

Some solutions are good in the short-term, such as the rescue operations in the Mediterranean, which is a generous and noble response to the emergency. But it’s probably now time to think of a longer-term solution. Disrupting criminal networks at sea is also not a long-term, sustainable solution.

It’s much better to offer alternatives. Land-based solutions are better than sea-based solutions, which are emergency measures. There are two possible broad sets of policies; one is a very restrictive policy where you close the borders before the sea crossing and monitor the coast. The other set of policy is humanitarian: setting up ways to relocate and allow legal movement into the European Union, without having to rely on the smugglers.