EL LOBO

MIGRATION, MILITIAS, AND MODERN SLAVERY ALONG THE U.S. MEXICO BORDER

It is 2023. Tension over illegal immigration across the U.S. Mexico border is rising. Mark Springer is in Mexico City for a conference on the “assisted migration” of species trapped by climate change. While there he encounters a young Guatemalan boy, one of 20,000 “rat children” surviving on the streets of the city, who is trying to get to America to search for his father. In helping the boy he becomes enmeshed in a scheme to sell illegal unaccompanied minors into servitude in the U.S.

In probing the scheme with long-time collaborator, Justin Tso, he discovers a controlling figure whose self-serving agenda involves the cynical manipulation of both border patrol agents and border militias. He also becomes aware of the startling similarities between the issues confronting those seeking to conserve endangered species like the Mexican gray wolf and those seeking to manage the flood of people fleeing untenable conditions in Central America.