There are few things that leave me speechless, consider this one of them.
This is a jaw-dropping story breaking today. According to an email sent by Mount Pleasant High School in Rhode Island, it looks like the school administration is seeking contributions from faculty and staff to pay a Mexican “coyote” who trafficked a student into the country. [SOURCE]
Everything associated with this request for teachers, administrators and staff of the school to participate in gathering funds to pay for an illegal human trafficking operation, is itself illegal. It is just, well, unfathomable that Asst. Principal Stefani Harvey would openly make such a request. Local, state and federal law enforcement should immediately be contacted to investigate.
According to the Twitter Account of Nicole Solas [See Here] the school subsequently retracted the fundraising effort, likely after recognizing what was actually at stake.
According to Mrs. Solas, the principal of the school, Tiffany Delaney, sent a follow-up email saying, “the nature of the request is not appropriate.”
Hopefully, the young student in the story is protected from the ramifications of this becoming public. From what I have previously researched, the coyotes in this process can sometimes hold the family of the trafficked child as ransom to ensure payment. Everything about this is horrific.
The decision by the school was/is absolutely ridiculous, but my prayers for the student and his/her family that may now have been put at risk.