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The mass murder of seventy-two illegal immigrants attempting to cross from Mexico into the United States in August 2010 appears to confirm the official point of view that human smuggling between the two countries is carried out by organized criminal groups who operate at the border. This article, based on a qualitative methodology that includes in-depth interviews with forty smugglers, examines the structure of human smuggling networks in Tamaulipas and analyzes the ties between smugglers and organized crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most contemporary theoretical schemes explaining migration are heavily weighted toward supply-side labor factors, given a focus on labor exporters and the migrants who originate there. However, demand-side factors are even more important. Based on the example of Tamaulipas's undocumented rural workers employed in agriculture in the United States, I argue that labor recruitment is a major stimulus for illegal immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration is too diverse and multifaceted to be explained by a single theory. Economics, sociology and geography have provided theoretical schemes explaining migration. During the last few decades the dominant theoretical framework in the analysis of Mexican migration to the United States has been the migrant network theory. Contrarily, relative deprivation theory has received less attention. However, from the example of Tamaulipas' undocumented farm workers employed in the United States, it can be inferred that relative deprivation theory offers a better understanding of the etiology of migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]