Smuggler: Drugs, Gangs, and Refugees at America's Northern Border

When an ordinary man is thrust into the dangerous world of smuggling at America's northern border, he finds himself at the center of debates about violent immigration policing inside the United States.

Soon after Bob Boul?opens the Smuggler's Inn, a quirky bed and breakfast in Blaine, Washington directly on the US-Canada border, refugees, drug traffickers, and ICE agents all trust him with their secrets. The refugees tell Bob heartbreaking stories of persecution and death, leading him to question his core beliefs about right and wrong. The drug traffickers and ICE agents try to recruit Bob to their side in the dangerous game of smuggling at the border. Bob's double life helping refugees cross the border while informing on drug traffickers eventually comes crashing down after a violent confrontation with a Border Patrol agent in his driveway. Bob's case goes all the way to the US Supreme Court, whose landmark decision in Egbert v. Boule paves the way for the apparent impunity of ICE agents on American streets in the second presidency of Donald Trump. In this gripping expose, Border expert Reece Jones and immigration lawyer Greg Boos reveal the hidden world of the America's northern border and provide readers with urgent insights into immigration and border policing throughout the United States.

From the Taliban-controlled countryside of Afghanistan to the infamous La Joya prison in Panama, the stories featured in Smuggler converge in the misty forests of the Pacific Northwest in the borderlands between Seattle and Vancouver. There are car chases, drug deals between the Hells Angels and the Sinaloa cartel, and over a thousand people who slip quietly across the border to safety in Canada in the dead of night. As Bob's work at the Smuggler's Inn spirals, he is forced to make a series of risky decisions that draw him deeper and deeper into the murky border underworld, putting his own life and freedom at risk. Featuring personal interviews, in-depth research, and a propulsive narrative, Smuggler is the untold true story of how a quaint bed and breakfast on the northern border became the epicenter of debates about refugee protections and violent immigration policing inside the United States.