 This focus followed sharp rises in irregular migration to the United States, and to Europe in the 1980s and 90s.A focus on those who facilitate irregular migration - rather than migrants themselves - was seen as a critical element of any response.The resulting legal framework was the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (Migrant Smuggling Protocol), that supplements the parent instrument, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.