Apparently, African citizens claiming family reunification with someone in the U.S. turned out to be true only 20% of the time.
The article did a fairly good (objective) job in framing the issue here because the story led to me to conclude two opposing explanations:
1] Altruistic people wanting to give African refugees to leave their homes for safety, food, or support in the U.S. Or close friends or distant relatives, while not blood-related, are eager to help friends they've left behind. Its not uncommon for friends or friends-of-friends to "marry" someone headed for deportation or a someone with a soon to be expired visa. So it is easy not to rule out the same strategies for African refugees.
2] Modern-day slave-traders/owners (yes, slavery still exists) taking advantage of desperate refugees. The media and non-profit orgs have made some effort in spreading awareness about human trafficking. The damning truth is that many American Joe Schmoes and others are oftentimes complicit in these human trafficking schemes.
I suppose only time will tell. (pardon the cliche)
