Human Traffic_Sex, Slaves and Immigration

An inside look at immigration 2008-05-09

Reviewer: Craig L. Olienyk

This book was a great read. Very simple in its syntax and a book that anyone who has an interest in the "hot-button" item of immigration should read. Many first-hand accounts fill this relatively small book, and they give it the feel of being inside the human trafficking world. Be careful, this book may change the way you view immigrants...for the better.

Very Mediocre 2007-08-15

Reviewer: Sappia

Poorly edited, carelessly written. Worth skimming simply to read the personal testimonies of victims. Don't buy it, borrow it.

Stopping sex trafficing 2007-01-12

Reviewer: Elizabeth Brown

This is a subject that little or no attention is given. It is nice to see someone address it. It is amazing what human beings can do to each other.

Stories about desperate people and the walls that block them 2005-03-02

Reviewer: Allan M. Gathercoal

McGill has given us a well laid out, quick introduction to the millions of desperate people who seek, regardless of risk of life or financial cost, to start life over in a 1st world country. He also shows how these very countries are determined not to let them in.

The book is in three sections: The Immigrants, The Smugglers and the Authorities.
In each section, McGill uses his journalistic skills, highlighting the human side of all concerned. He writes intelligently about the plight of those who want a better life and freedom from oppression, about the greed of the highly organized criminals that run the trafficking engine, and notes the frustration of the authorities who are professionally trained, competent and often hamstrung by politics.

The desperate stories of the illegal are gripping and graphic. Few who read this book, if they were in the same situation would not try to find a better life. You will read the stories of the lowlife, scumbags who make billions (not just millions) of dollars trafficking human flesh. These syndicates (often connected with the Police and Military in Asia) actually laugh at the often-feeble attempt that nations put up to stop trafficking.

More than about the sex trade or slaves, McGill writes about "illegal" entry into various nations and the journey that it takes such a brave and frantic soul. In the USA alone (2002 statistics) there were 9 to 13 million illegal aliens (mostly Mexicans) living in the country. Each day tens of thousands attempt to cross the porous border.

Now, post 9/11, the book points out a few of the efforts that more vigilant countries have taken to curb the movement of millions of people per year who want in. Most of the 9/11 terrorists were in the USA because of a seriously flawed department of immigration management system. Nothing is mentioned in the book about this.

Now there is a good chance that millions of the `illegals' in the US will be granted legal status by President Bush. This blatant political action would make a sham out of the existing legal immigration programs that honest applicants go through legally, often waiting years, to get in the USA legally. Bush's legalization of illegal aliens sends the message to all seeking to enter the USA "Why try to be honest and legal when it is easier to arrive illegally and get a politically motivated pardon later."

McGill's book is not about just immigration into the USA. He also shows how England, Germany and Australia have greater immigration problems that the USA does. He points out that a few, like Norway and Australia, have seriously tightened up their program and clamped down on illegal entry into their countries.

This is a quick, short airplane read and it would be a great introduction for High School and College students. The general populace will find his writing clear and engaging. The book has a discernable bias for the illegal needing to get in. More so than the right of nations to defend and protect their own populace and boarders. The lack of an index, the lack of an appendix listing the statistics on illegal immigration through out the world, and a more complete bibliography may keep this book from being used more in education. Recommended 3.5 stars

An exploitative, poorly researched book 2005-01-13

Reviewer: M. Littau-Mora

It's a shame that this sort of thing gets published. I've spent years studying unsanctioned migration and take it from me: this book stinks. It is badly written, un-researched, and seemingly un-edited. The title says it all: pure sensationalism. "Hey! Let's exploit human suffering and make Big Bucks in the publishing trade! We got sex! We got slavery! We got it all, folks!" McGill's "investigation" seems to consist mainly of interviews with a very few informants; his reference list in the back consists of a few decent essays on the topic from consumer magazines and then a bunch of trivial articles and websites; it includes virtually none of the really important works on the field. The book ranges from vaguely plausible to complete nonsense: at one point he describes the temperature in the Arizona desert as 130 degrees Celsius (a nice image of cacti boiling over and cars melting into the pavement). All of his information on illegal immigration from Mexico seems to come from one immigrant and one "retired Border Patrol agent." Good lord. Similarly, all his data on coming from China is from one person, padded out with some hearsay about another. I lived on the US-Mexico border for a decade, and I can say that virtually everything he says about the place suggests that he never set foot there (or even looked at it on a map - he has a guy taking Highway 80 from Bisbee to Phoenix, which McGill strangely refers to by the name of its airport, Sky Harbor). While it's fine to get data from individual informants, even a small number of them, a careful journalist does substantial background research and follow-up, which McGill clearly didn't. There are many, many good books on this topic - written by people who care enough about the issue to do legitimate investigation and research - and if you read a few of them, you will realize after about 5 pages of this book that it is a complete sham. Pick up one of the vastly more reliable, carefully researched, well documented books by Suarez-Orozco, Kimberly Grimes, Felix Padilla, Mariam Davidson, Ted Conover, Ruben Martinez, Mike Davis, Alejandro Portes, Ruben Rumbaut, etc. And say NO to McGill's brand of exploitative, sensationalist tripe.