Reveal: The Smuggler -- and a Call for Listener Comments

In 2015, French radio reporter Raphael Krafft was covering the refugee crisis in France, which, like the U.S., is closing its borders to refugees. On a reporting trip to Italy, he was confronted by a refugee who asked him to help his family cross the border into France.

As a journalist, Krafft was supposed to be objective, but the plight of the family and other refugees he met compelled him to get involved. In this episode of Reveal, he recounts what happened next and how it changed the course of his career and life.

First, we meet Krafft, a war correspondent who’s covered conflicts around the world for 20 years. He has witnessed suffering and has met countless desperate people, but seeing this crisis unfold in his own country moves him to action.

One day at the French-Italian border, Krafft meets a Sudanese man named Ibrahim, who is desperate to get to France so he can apply for asylum. But the French border is closed. Krafft decides to smuggle Ibrahim and a friend into the country. To evade border police, they travel by foot – over the Alps.

A year after the border crossing, Krafft reunites with Ibrahim and his friend Ahmad to check on their asylum status and see how they are adjusting to their new life in France.

Listen to Reveal Tuesday nights at 8pm on 93.9FM throughout the summer on WNYC.