Weeks ago the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled Immigrants Become Hostages As Gangs Prey on Mexicans about human smuggling in a U.S. economy spinning out of control.

The piece described how Mexican drug cartels and other criminals in and outside Phoenix, Arizona are using the bursting of the housing market bubble to aid large-scale drug and human smuggling operations in sparsely populated neighborhoods.  Criminals are renting an increasing number of empty houses from unsuspecting – or unscrupulous – housing speculators-turned-landlords and they are using these houses to warehouse vulnerable migrants and drugs.

The article states that, “Federal, state and local authorities discovered 194 such houses in 2007, then 169 last year,” and continues, “In 68 alleged drop houses identified in the first five months of 2009, authorities found 1,069 illegal immigrants.”  The scheme is set up so that migrants pay $1,000 in cash for transit to the U.S. and then are held hostage until they or their loved ones agree to pay as much as $4,000 extra to release them from the unexpected captivity and torture at the hands of criminal gangs. 

Huge amounts of cash go directly into the criminals’ hands as almost pure profit, minus the cost for transportation, gas, housing and food.  A recent LA Times article quoted Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard saying that, “In Arizona, the cartels grossed an estimated $2 billion last year on smuggling humans.” 

There are two options to deal with the problem of illegal migration, though both share something in common: if it becomes less profitable for criminals to smuggle migrants into the US then there will be a decrease in organized crime’s growth and presence here. 

The first option that the federal and state governments could pursue is to dedicate more resources toward the investigation and arrest of smugglers.  If it becomes too risky for these smugglers to operate then they will charge more per immigrant, many of whom could not pay a rising premium.  Or, smugglers would halt their illegal immigration operations altogether. 

The second option is for the U.S. federal government to offer migrants more tourist and work visas.  This plan would be less expensive, it would decrease criminal operations and revenues and it would help document more workers than the current system procures.  These new holders of migrant visas could apply for driver’s license, pay taxes, obtain legal housing and earn wages on the books.

At the heart of the matter, though, are the highly objectionable conditions that migrants endure while in the custody of violent, criminal smugglers.  The WSJ’s Joel Millman writes that, “They had been jammed in so tightly and so long that the wallboard showed indentations for bare backs being pressed against it.”  An Arizona Republic article describing the same scene stated that some captives in the house had been held for a month with very little food or water.  

The migrants were only rescued because one of them called 911 and when police arrived, “They could hear people inside banging on the windows and screaming to get the officers’ attention.”  

No American or Latin American for that matter should tolerate the crimes against migrants that are occurring within the U.S.  Now is the time for ordinary citizens, legislators, and law enforcement to forcefully punish criminals and stop the illegal trade of humans before more people are tortured.