Lives for Sale: Immigration & Human Trafficking, a one-hour investigative documentary that exposes the painful and rarely seen human side of illegal immigration, has been made available to all NBC affiliated stations for broadcast beginning September 25.
NBC stations have the opportunity to broadcast Lives for Sale through March 25, 2012. New Yorkers interested in this growing social issue can contact WNBC-TV Channel 4 to learn if the program will be broadcast locally. Channel 4 can be reached by phone at 212-664-4444 or email.
Lives for Sale is part of the "Horizons of the Spirit" series sponsored by the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission. It is presented by the National Council of Churches USA. The documentary was co-produced by Maryknoll Productions and Lightfoot Films. Maryknoll is the foreign mission society of the U.S. Catholic Church.
Lives for Sale focuses on the exploding black market of human trafficking into the United States. The documentary explores human trafficking beyond the conventional political rhetoric and media coverage to explain the reasons immigrants will risk everything for the American Dream. The journey is filled with dangers that prey on hopes and exploit inexperience. Some people will provide their minimal life savings to “coyotes” (mercenary agents promising safe passage) while others unknowingly will become some of the almost 20,000 annual victims of human trafficking who cross the Mexican-U.S. border and become modern-day slaves.
Lives for Sale looks at the many people trying to escape devastating poverty in search of a better life. For anyone making his or her way from Honduras, for example, where 79 percent of people live in poverty, a journey of three days and nights on a freight train from southern Mexico to the U.S. border will be filled with robberies, killings, rapes and injuries.
According to the investigative report, human trafficking is the world’s third most lucrative illegal commercial activity, generating an estimated annual profit of $8 billion dollars. About 27 million live in slavery worldwide, and nearly every country is involved in trafficking activities as a country of origin, destination, or transit.
A DVD of Lives for Sale: Immigration & Human Trafficking can be purchased through Maryknoll. For more information, visit the program website.
Comments