With the help of a one hundred thousand-dollar grant from the U.S. State Department, Concerned Women for America (CWA) recently completed several weeks of training for 15 pro-family representatives from Mexico.
The group came from Red Familia, a coalition of 150 pro-life and family organizations in Mexico, and was comprised of many high-level officials. During the training, the Mexican participants received briefings on their country's problems with slave trafficking and other kinds of criminal activity.
CWA Project Director Dr. Janice Crouse says the group received a very thorough overview of the problems. "We prepared a 200-page manual for them, and for two weeks they heard the most outstanding people who are in the work of combating sex trafficking here in Washington, DC," she notes.
That included U.S. government representatives from Capitol Hill, and the Departments of State and Justice, whose briefings came as a major surprise to the visitors, according to Crouse. She says the members of the Mexican group were not only unaware of the extent to which Mexico was a source country for the hated sex trade, but also of how it is helping to foster associated criminal illegal immigration.
The CWA official observes that many Mexicans do not realize their nation, besides being a source of direct illegal immigration, "is also a transit country, meaning that people from South America, Central America, Asia, [and] Europe come through Mexico in order to get to the United States."
In addition to the U.S. government representatives, Crouse says the training sessions involved "a good, broad range of people, including people from non-government organizations who are working at the grassroots level to combat sex trafficking." The roster of experts briefed the Red Familia members fully on the hard facts of the lucrative slave trade and related criminal activity in Mexico.
Armed with the new information and a research project plan to study options for action, the Mexican leaders returned to their country determined to take action. Crouse and other CWA officials will meet again with the pro-family coalition members in Mexico for follow-up in the next few months and will work with them to devise a strategy to combat the illicit sex trade problem.
© 2005, Agape Press
