Down yonder, a reader asks:
Wouldn’t posing as a child trafficker constitute the sin of lying?
It depends on whether you actually lie. It would be possible to use mental reservations to get through the situation. As another reader suggests:
IMO, this would fall under not lying. His interest is literally to
purchase children. His intent is for that purchase to be an act of
charity. By stating his interest he is not lying.
The Catechism would seem to offer support for this:
CCC 2489
Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request
for information or communication. The good and safety of others, respect for
privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what
ought not be known or for making use of a discreet language. The duty to avoid
scandal often commands strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth
Rescuing children from sexual slavery would constitute "the good and safety of others" needed to justified "making use of a discreet language"–i.e., mentally reserving the fact that you are really an undercover operative trying to shut down the child slavery ring and otherwise seeking to purchase the children.
Of course, since the individuals at International Justice Mission are Evangelicals, they may well be unacquainted with the idea of mental reservation and may simply lie. I don’t know that they do, but it’s a possibility, especially when they get into situations where they don’t have a mental reservation handy and can’t risk exposure (which would likely imperil their lives). In such circumstances, though, the morality of their act would not only be ameliorated because of the grave fear of exposure and by their Evangelical formation but also because:
CCC 2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms,
the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by
its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes
mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.
Trying to rescue kids from sexual slavery and bust up a ring of sex slave criminals is going to severely mitigate the culpability of the lie, just as in the case of the Hebrew midwives who lied to protect the baby boys in Exodus 1.
(And don’t be distracted by the harm suffered by the sex slave criminals who are then locked-up as a result. That isn’t "harm" in the sense of an unjust injury inflicted on the innocent. It’s getting them at least a fraction of what they deserve and thus not "harm." In the sense intended by this passage, "harm" means something bad that happens to an innocent person, not the avoidance of legitimate punishment.)
Unfortunately, even for one who is aware of the idea of mental reservation, doing this kind of work would put one in the proximate occasion of sin as one would be regularly tempted to lie to avoid exposure. However, given the relative gravity of the lies one would be tempted to tell and the gravity of what will happen to these kids if they are not rescued, it would seem that the assumption of this risk would be warranted for those able to stomach the work.