This week on Fronteras:
- Human trafficking is an international crime, but Texas authorities are learning to understand it as a local atrocity.
- The fight to get Mexican-American studies in public schools (6:18).
- How a family divided by the U.S.-Mexico border struggles to keep a sense of normalcy in their lives (16:20)
Human Trafficking A Local Crime In Texas
Authorities in Mexico have arrested two people they say were involved in a human trafficking operation. In addition to the arrests, investigators rescued 24 young women who are from Colombia and Venezuela. This incident underscores how most of us understand human trafficking – as an international crime. But as KUT’s Joy Diaz reports, authorities in Texas are deepening their understanding of human trafficking as a local crime. This story contains descriptions that may be disturbing.
Activist Fights For Mexican-American Studies In Public Schools
Tony Diaz has been leading a fight to get ethnic studies approved in public schools. He began in Arizona, helping overturn a 2010 law banning ethnic studies. He helped start the “Librotraficante movement,” smuggling banned books to Arizona students.
In Texas, he wrote a Mexican-American studies textbook for public schools. That book, “The Mexican-American Studies Toolkit.” It’s the second such book to be rejected.
Fronteras spoke with Tony Diaz, who is an author, activist and professor at Lone Star College in Houston.
A Family Divided By America’s Border Wall
America’s existing wall along the U.S.-Mexico border not only divides the two countries but also some families who are separated due to deportation. KPBS investigative reporter Jean Guerrero brings us the story of a California mother who travels to Tijuana often so her children can see their deported father.
Norma Martinez can be reached by email at norma@tpr.org and on Twitter @NormDog1
