Each year several hundred thousand illegal migrants are moved by international criminal smuggling syndicates from their countries of origin to primarily Western Europe and the United States. The United Nations estimates that Chinese smugglers alone earn up to 3.5 billion dollars annually for moving illegal migrants out of China to other countries. Trafficking organizations operate with near impunity, as alien smuggling is a crime in only a few countries and penalties are minimal. Alien smuggling is made possible by staggering levels of official corruption, from immigration inspectors and border guards up to national directors of immigration. The key elements in the alien smuggling business include: (1) people willing to give up everything to move to another country illegally; (2) recruiters who gather illegal migrants and move them halfway around the world; (3) corrupt officials and weak institutions in transit countries; (4) counterfeit documents; (5) ports of entry and permissive legal systems in transit countries; (6) boats at sea carrying migrants; (7) weak border controls at destination countries; and (8) inadequate international enforcement efforts against the perpetrators. The article briefly describes Clinton administration initiatives to combat alien smuggling.