Economies of sail: migrant-smuggling entrepreneurs

帆船经济:非法移民走私商人

The Intelligence from The Economist

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2025-04-08

25 分钟
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More than 36,000 migrants crossed the English Channel in small boats last year. Our correspondent investigates the increasingly sophisticated business strategies of the criminals who smuggle them. As the planet heats, wildfires in East Asia are becoming fiercer and more frequent (10:36). And why ordinary Americans are falling out of love with their former international allies (18:31). Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+
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  • The Economist Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist.

  • I'm your host, Rosie Bloor.

  • Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

  • This year, wildfires have raged in South Korea and Japan,

  • larger than either country had seen for decades.

  • Our correspondent discussed how these relate to climate change and where else we might expect to see the planet's ferocity.

  • And unless you've been living on Mars,

  • you'll have heard at least some of the views coming out of Donald Trump's White House.

  • We look at opinion polling to see how the shift in tone at the top is changing how ordinary Americans see their friends and foes.

  • But first...

  • Last year,

  • more than 36,000 people journeyed across the English Channel to enter Britain illegally.

  • Travelling in small overloaded boats can be a deadly activity.

  • The criminals who ferry these migrants have attracted odium and many names.

  • Chief among them, gangs.

  • For too long, smuggling gangs have been undermining our border security.

  • Now, the reason that criminal gangs continue to bring small boats...

  • There is a serious issue in people smuggling that the only way to deal with it is to take down the gangs,

  • the groups that are running this file.

  • And though politicians have good reason to speak ill of the smugglers,