Irregular Migration from Türkiye to The United States

Abstract

The United States’ southern border has been witnessing a record increase in illegal entrance of Turkish citizens. According to the data provided by the United States border patrol, during the 2023 fiscal year, 15.542 Turkish citizens entered the country illegally through the United States-Mexican border. This number was under 100 per year over the last decade. Although it has not gotten much attention in media and academic circles, the rate of the increase in the number of Turkish citizens entering the United States illegally is alarming. While the main reasons of the high numbers of people migrating from Erdogan’s Türkiye include general insatiateness regarding economic and political problems, substandard working conditions and underdeveloped fundamental human rights protection system United States’ prestigious image in the world, strong economy and promising future can be counted among the main reasons that migrants prefer it as destination country. The surprising rise of Turkish citizens choosing Mexico as a transit country to enter the States is attributed to the transnational criminal organizations’ connections to Türkiye. The dire circumstances Turkish people experience and their endeavor to find a way to “get out of Türkiye” plays into the hands of cartels. The article points out this multilateral phenomenon and sets forth the push and pull factors, elaborating the involvement of transnational criminal organizations in Mexico.