The Ongoing Tragedy of Human Trafficking

One of the best series we've watched in the past couple of years is called Criminal which involves interrogations of suspected criminals with all the drama occurring in one room. One episode involved the questioning of a British lorry, or transport truck, driver who is suspected of being involved in the human smuggling of asylum seekers across the English Channel. There is a sense of urgency because the vehicle has yet to be found and there are concerns that those in it will perish in the cold of a British winter. It's unclear whether the driver knew of his human cargo and he is reluctant to implicate himself. 

I watched this episode again yesterday because of the terrible news out of Texas about the discovery of 47 dead migrants from Central America in the back of a smuggler's truck. Four more of the handful still alive inside have since died. Arrests have been made, but these people have perished. The temperature outside was above 35C or 100F. What was it like for the women and children and men who were trapped in the truck?

Not only is this news grimly reminiscent of the Criminal episode, it could have been told about the plight of so many refugees and migrants around the world who risk everything for the possibility of a new life. Their desperation and the greed and cruelty of traffickers is a deadly combination. Whether it's the back of a truck, or on an unseaworthy boat, or on foot along a remote border, the danger is beyond what most of us can imagine. 

There are many religious organizations doing frontline work with asylum seekers in countries around the world, including in the United States and Canada. It must be tremendously discouraging when these tragedies occur. How do they continue with any sense of hope, no matter how strong their faith and conviction about helping the vulnerable?

I'll leave you with this from a New York Times piece: 

The president of Catholic Charities in San Antonio, J. Antonio Fernandez, visited two of the migrant survivors at University Hospital on Monday night. One, identified by the hospital as a 23-year-old woman, managed to open her eyes when he entered the room. “We asked her if we could pray with her, and she nodded her head yes,” Mr. Fernandez said. “She could not speak. We asked her if she was from Guatemala and she moved her head yes. She had been through hell. All we could do is pray with them.”