Book cover for Organised Crime and Migration

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Copyright: © Victorie Knox 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63674/aoth5004

Number of pages: 244

Publication date: 25 June 2026

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Organised Crime and Migration

Criminal Groups, Corruption and the Displacement Crisis in Central America and Mexico

Victorie Knox (Author)

Series: Critical Human Rights Studies

Published in association with: Human Rights Consortium, Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Open Access publication funded by American Council of Learned Societies with generous support from Arcadia

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Human mobility, organised crime and corruption remain critical issues in Mexico and Central America. This book is the first to consider together three major, interconnected ways in which organised crime shapes migration in the region – as a driver of internal displacement and external migration, a threat to migrants in transit, and a facilitator of unauthorised migration through people-smuggling – and to analyse state action and accountability in relation to these.

Drawing on original interview material with key informants, migrants and refugees, the book analyses how organised criminal groups provoke forced migration, exploit migrants and control people-smuggling, the decision-making and displacement dynamics of people affected by gang violence, and the role of policy, corruption and impunity in the evolution and perpetuation of this situation.

It provides new insight about the internal and external dimensions of displacement caused by gang violence, the agency of people facing extreme risk, and the foreseeable adverse consequences of policy, as well as the implications for state accountability. The conclusions are relevant to academics, practitioners and policymakers concerned with organised crime and migration, both in the region and globally, and for understanding the potential implications of externalising migration policy in areas affected by corruption or organised crime.

Combining theories of criminal governance and migration governance with rich interview data, Knox centres the decision-making processes of Central Americans fleeing gang violence and elucidates the complex interactions between migrant agency, violence, impunity, corruption, and official policies. A timely contribution to literature on displacement amid organized crime.
—Miriam Bradley, Senior Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies, University of Manchester, UK

Introduction
1 Criminal violence as a driver of internal displacement and external migration
2 Transit and trajectory through Mexico: Navigating risk and finding protection
3 Organised crime groups as a threat to migrants during transit
4 People-smuggling though Mexico and the role of organised crime and corruption
5 Law, policy and the state: Accountability for adverse consequences, criminal activity and corruption
6 Conclusion and reflections

PDF: 9781912250714

EPUB: 9781912250721

Read Online: 9781912250707

Hardback: 9781912250684 / 244 pages / 240mm x 160mm

Paperback: 9781912250691 / 244 pages / 234mm x 156mm

Victorie Knox (Author)

Victorie Knox is a lecturer at the University of London’s Refugee Law Initiative and has taught at postgraduate level at the School of Advanced Study, University of London since 2016. She has conducted human rights research in academic and professional capacities since 2011, focused on forced displacement linked to organised crime, gang violence and corruption, as well as on gender-based violence, sexuality and reproductive rights. Victorie previously worked as a senior research consultant for NGOs and held senior roles in human rights organisations including Amnesty International, International Alert and the Central America Woman’s Network.

Subject: Human Rights, Languages, Cultures and Societies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies

BISAC codes: SOC004000, SOC007000, SOC044000, SOC066000

Thema codes: JBFH, JBFK

Keywords: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, asylum, central america, corruption, criminal groups, forced displacement, gang violence, human rights, international protection, migrants, migration controls, organised crime, people smuggling, refugees, state responsibility, transit

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