What could be so terrible to make millions of people abandon their homes, their families and their countries to take on a dangerous journey through jungles, gang lands and a militarized U.S. southern border? If they survive and are successful, what awaits these desperate travelers is a life in a harsh land with a different language and culture?
These people are being driven from their native countries because of political instability, poverty, and climate change. And then there is the promise of jobs being offered by American companies with an insatiable appetite for cheap labor.
Several decades ago, the trip to El Norte wasn’t as perilous. Back then coyotes/human smugglers were independent and followed an informal code. But in the years since, the borders have hardened, and coyotes have become part of the drug cartel organizations.
The real lives and work of illegal cross-border guides are only ever reported on from a distance, using tired tropes and stereotypes, often depicted as boogie men and violent warlords.
In an effort to better understand this essential yet extralegal billion-dollar global industry, internationally recognized anthropologist and expert Jason De León embedded with a group of smugglers moving migrants across Mexico over the course of seven years.
The result of this unique and extraordinary access is Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling, the first ever in-depth, character-driven look at human smuggling. It is a heart-wrenching and intimate narrative that revolves around the life and death of one coyote who falls in love and tries to leave smuggling behind. De León chronicles the lives of low-level foot soldiers breaking into the smuggling game, and morally conflicted gang leaders who oversee ragtag crews of guides and informants along the migrant trail.
Jason De León compassionately illuminates a world of limited choices, when young men are conscripted into gangs and violence, a life of constant vigilance and early death, but most of all, a life not of the smugglers’ own choosing.
Guest:
Jason De León is professor of Anthropology and Chicana/o Studies and Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is also Executive Director of the Undocumented Migration Project, a 501(c)(3) research, arts, and education collective that seeks to raise awareness about migration issues globally while also assisting families of missing migrants reunite with their loved ones. He is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow and author of the award–winning book The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail.
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This interview will be recorded on Tuesday, January 21, 2024.