Human trafficking is a social problem that has been in existence for a long time (Martin & Smith, 2015). Sonia Paras, an immigration attorney, says that many victims are invisible to the public's eyes (PBS, 2018). The Frontline's film "Trafficked in America," premiered by the Public Broadcasting Service, reveals the criminal activities around human trafficking from Central America in Guatemala to Ohio. In the film, individuals such as Aroldo Castillo, Jack DeCosta, Pablo Duran Sr show individual social problems. Agencies such as the federal government, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the immigration offices show systemic involvement in social problems (PBS, 2018). Addressing human trafficking as a social problem requires recognizing the problem, ensuring responsibility from every person and the government and its agencies responsible for human rights and services.
The film “Trafficked in America” reveals the problem of human trafficking. A problem that is likely to be ignored as people tend to think that human trafficking is an idea of the past and does not exist in the current society. Human trafficking from Guatemala to Ohio is a result of the high poverty standards in Central America. In the case pursued by the Frontline, Alberto's family lives in extreme poverty. Aroldo Castillo's promise to have their son move to the USA for better education and work fascinates them as they believed it could be an option for their son to get educated and secure employment (PBS, 2018). The government of Guatemala is not keen on its citizens' safety as it allows the smuggling of underage children across its borders. The immigration offices, Department of Health and Human Services, law enforcement agencies aid in delivering the unaccompanied minors to their assailants (PBS, 2018). HHS, for example, fails to account for the unaccompanied minors in the USA through the stoppage of authentication by fingerprinting and original birth certification, allowing for easy delivery of the minors to the farms (PBS, 2018). The involvement of both individuals and the government is revealed in the film showing that social problems have both an individual and system blame.
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The Frontline revealed human trafficking as a social problem, allowing for the recognition of the problem. The producers of the film Daffodil Altan and Andres Cediel, move through Central America and Ohio, looking for the individuals involved with the Trillium Egg farm in Ohio, where many undocumented Guatemalan teens worked under poor conditions for long hours with poor pay (PBS, 2018). The team, with Altan as the correspondent, began their investigation in Guatemala by looking for the trafficked minors' families. In Guatemala, they meet Aroldo Castillo's family, a crucial element in the smuggling of children and adults to Ohio with the promise of better education and good life. The team moves to critical players in the trafficking, such as Pablo Duran Sr. involved with the Trillium farms. The team goes further to investigate human exploitation in other farms, such as the Iowa farms. The subsequent result of the investigation is the intervention by the State of Ohio, allowing for detaining of Aroldo Castillo and Jack DeCosta (PBS, 2018). Besides, some teens in Ohio get visas, and their families get back their deeds confiscated by Castillo's family.
Addressing human trafficking requires an aggressive approach from the government. Senator Rob Portman blames the immigration office and HHS for allowing undocumented minors to be passed to their abusers (PBS, 2018). The role of the government is played by both the government and other personalities linked to the government. The government realizes the blame in Guatemala, and North America as agencies in all the locations do not work to counter human trafficking. Besides, the involvement shows the systems' role in social problems compared to the roles played by individuals (Eitzen et al. 2017). Therefore, the broader system and agencies fail in their duties, allowing the exploitation of individuals by people like Aroldo Castillo and Jack DeCosta. During the investigation by ‘The Frontline,' a focus on other areas of the world would have been necessary as it appears that human trafficking is widespread and the individuals being exploited live in fear of intimidation and cannot report as in the case of the minors who even refused to speak on camera during the investigations (PBS, 2018). The human trafficking problem requires that governmental systems become pivotal in guarding the well-being of the citizens.
Personal and systemic blame approaches can be employed while analyzing human trafficking as a social problem. Castillo is a third-party contractor who worked with Trillium Egg Farm, and he takes advantage of the poverty in Guatemala to exploit low-income families. He promises the teen of a good life and better education that is not fulfilled when they get to Ohio. Castillo does not work alone; the Trillium farm that he works with allows undocumented minors' employment. The farm executives such as J.T. Dean and Pablo Duran declined to be aware of the minors working on the farm (PBS, 2018). The immigration department and HHS also aid in delivering the minors to the farms. Senator Rob Portman believes that the immigration department and HHS have poor policies or have selfish individuals who work alongside the traffickers to ensure undocumented individuals' successful smuggling into Ohio. The result of smuggling is the subsequent exploitation and mistreatment of the teens (PBS, 2018). The stoppage of identification through fingerprinting and provision of original birth certificates at the department of immigration demonstrates the department's role in ensuring the success of human trafficking.
Despite Eitzen claiming that systems play a significant role in solving social problems, ordinary people's roles cannot be underestimated (Eitzen et al. 2017). As shown in the film, human trafficking begins at the family and local community’s level. The low-income families in Guatemala should weigh the risks of allowing young teens to leave their homes and the promises made to them by individuals like Castillo. Alberto, who was one of the victim's father, gives a narration of how hard it was allowing for a young member of the family to leave on an unknown journey (PBS, 2018). If individuals such as Alberto had refused to give away their children, human trafficking would have been handled one way. The trafficked individuals feared speaking out, therefore, leading to continuous exploitation. Francisca Castillo keeps the deeds taken away from the poor individuals in Guatemala and believes that her son Aroldo helped Guatemala's people. She fails to speak against her son's exploitation and instead supports his actions. Even after her son is detained, Francisca still maintains that the teen’s families still owe the Castillo’s (PBS, 2018). Heads of the department such as HHS should have been keen to note the individuals were helping the undocumented teens' passage to the farms.
In conclusion, addressing human trafficking as a social problem requires recognizing the problem, ensuring responsibility from every person and the government and its agencies responsible for human rights and services. 'The Frontline' leads to recognizing human trafficking through the investigation of trafficking from Guatemala to Ohio. The investigation reveals individuals like Jack Decosta and Aroldo Castillo and government agencies such as HHS. After the revelation of the problem, Ohio's local government is involved leading to a subsequent rescue of some of the teens. The teen's families back in Guatemala also receive their deeds withheld by Castillo's, although some families are yet to see their loved ones.
References
Eitzen D. S., Zinn M. B., & Smith K. E. (2017). Social Problems (Subscription ). [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134637808/
Martin, H. M., & Smith, L. M. (2015). Historical overview and demographic analysis of human trafficking in the USA. International journal of public law and policy , 5 (3), 219-248.
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). (2018). Trafficked in America . PBS . https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/trafficked-in-america/.
