Human trafficking/smuggling

PJ_Soul

So the new news is that the father of the poor child, Alan Kurdi, who washed up on the beach (we all know the photo now, right?) may have been a human smuggler himself. Apparently some woman from the boat that sank is claiming that he actually captained the boat and worked for those collecting money from the refugees on that boat. Supposedly, the original captain was telling the refugees who paid to escape on the doomed vessel that it was safe, since if it weren't Abdullah Kurdi, one of his crew, wouldn't be bringing his own kids along for the ride. Kurdi also might have even caused the boat to capsize by going too fast. HOWEVER, Abdullah Kurdi is denying it outright, saying that he only took over steering the boat when the captain abandoned ship (nice fucking guy, right?). Though the woman stating this, who also lost her two children in the accident, is making some pretty specific claims.

So..... while this should change nothing in terms of the refugee crisis (the big picture) IMO, nor in terms of the fact that Alan Kurdi likely died as a result of Canada's rejection of his family's request for sponsorship, perhaps it does change people's perceptions. This man's dead child was the symbol of the desperation of the refugees. Does he now become the symbol of the offensiveness of those taking advantage of the situation??? What are other people's thoughts? I admit my heart sank a bit when I heard this news, because I can imagine that it could be damaging to perceptions.

What I'm also wondering is where does everyone stand when it comes to people taking money to help get refugees out of war zones?? Is this necessarily immoral?

Here is an article on it (yes, there is a photo of the drowned Alan Kurdi in it):
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/alan-kurdis-father-worked-with-human-smuggler-and-captained-boat-that-capsized-survivor-says