Showtime Documentary: The Trade

A new Showtime documentary series, “The Trade,” explores the immigration crisis on the U.S. southern border, and NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro talked with producer Monica Villamizar for Weekend Edition. “‘The Trade’ follows the lives of migrants and smugglers, victims and survivors, border officials and the undocumented living in the United States. The filmmakers gained incredible access in Honduras and Mexico and with U.S. law enforcement to tell this story of human trafficking.”

This documentary series from Oscar®-nominated, Emmy®-winning director Matthew Heineman offers a visceral look at illicit industries, and tells the stories of those most affected by them. Season 1 goes inside the opioid epidemic, from cartel-controlled Mexico to heartland America where addicts and law enforcement combat the cycles of drug abuse. Season 2 centers on human trafficking and smuggling, following Central Americans on a perilous odyssey to the US, the shadow industries that prey on them, and law enforcement agents who try to stop them.

KJ