Tag Archive for: human trafficking

Biden Program May Have Helped Sex Traffickers ‘Exploit Women and Girls’: Congressional Report

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Human sex traffickers may have used a Biden administration program that imported tens of thousands of illegal immigrants a month into the United States “to exploit women and girls,” a congressional report has revealed.

In addition to breaking consecutive records for the largest number of border crossings in U.S. history, the Biden-Harris administration’s Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela (CHNV) program flew 30,000 illegal immigrants a month into the United States from those four nations alone.

“To mask the border crisis and artificially decrease historically high border encounters, President Biden and Vice President Harris implemented programs and policies that allowed aliens to bypass the southwest border so they would not be included as encounters in Border Patrol data,” notes the report, released by the House Judiciary Committee, titled “The Biden-Harris Administration’s CHNV Parole Program Two Years Later: A Fraud-Ridden, Unmitigated Disaster.”

“Sex traffickers have potentially used CHNV to exploit women and girls,” investigators found. “A fraud analysis of CHNV applications revealed that some applications that were sent from the same IP addresses were submitted on behalf of a high proportion of female CHNV aliens … raising concerns about potential sex trafficking. In one such case, 21 supporter applications were submitted from the same IP address on behalf of 18 females and only three males. At least six of the females were under the age of 18. Another concern surrounded the use of the same physical address by many supporters. According to the DHS analysis, 100 physical addresses were used at least 124 times each on behalf of 19,062 CHNV aliens.”

The report fuels concerns that the Biden-Harris administration has facilitated the heinous, illicit activities of human smugglers, drug cartels, and transnational criminal organizations. The administration is presently unable to account for 320,000 children whom it placed with U.S. sponsors after the minors crossed the border illegally.

U.S. taxpayers may also be paying welfare benefits to illegal immigrants brought into this country under CHNV. The report found Biden administration officials “approved CHNV supporters who admitted to receiving means-tested public benefits as part of their income listed as evidence that they can support a CHNV alien. Thus, American taxpayers may actually end up supporting CHNV aliens despite Biden-Harris Administration claims that those aliens will have supporters in the U.S.”

The Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Homeland Security temporarily halted the CHNV program in mid-July “out of an abundance of caution.” The pause coincided with the time Democratic leaders prevailed upon President Joe Biden to step aside and allow Kamala Harris to become the presidential nominee, out of fear his poor record on the economy and immigration would harm the party. The administration announced it would resume CHNV program flights in late August.

Before the mid-summer interruption, an internal investigation by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), obtained by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), uncovered evidence of significant fraud in CHNV, including the significant use of false Social Security numbers, including “666666666.” In addition:

  • 2,839 forms included non-existent zip codes.
  • 1,908 applications used fictitious phone numbers.
  • More than 1,800 applications featured the same, 184-word answer in response to a question.

“The most frequently used sponsor e-mail address was listed on 363 different forms. Further, the most frequently used parolee e-mail address was listed on 1,723 different forms collectively submitted by 477 different sponsors,” found FAIR.

The CHNV program approved applications by those who do not live in the four nations covered by that mass amnesty program, FAIR reported.

Critics say they are unsurprised by fraud, because the CHNV program itself is lawless. In 1996, Congress enacted a federal law — 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A) — which allows the attorney general to parole illegal immigrants into the United States “only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

The Biden-Harris administration approved 650,200 applications from the CHNV program as of August 6.

Year-end numbers showed 2024 was the second-worst year for illegal immigration in U.S. history, with 2,901,142 illegal border crossings during the fiscal year, which began in October 2023.

The committee’s investigation “uncovered how the Biden-Harris Administration’s willingness to cast aside the best interests of Americans has enabled fraud, undermined national security, and endangered public safety, all in favor of ensuring that hundreds of thousands of otherwise illegal aliens can come to the U.S. through CHNV,” said the report.

Americans concerned with women’s and girls’ safety should support sealing the border and reversing illegal immigration, human rights advocates say. Polls show a majority of American (54%) support President-elect Donald Trump’s promises to begin mass deportations early in his second administration.

“This tragic reality underscores why the new administration’s promises to secure our borders, end the incentives for foreign nationals to put their lives at the mercy of ruthless criminals, and begin the process of removing Tren de Aragua and other brutal gangs from our soil are fully justified,” wrote Pawel Styrna, senior researcher at FAIR. “Those genuinely concerned about the welfare and safety of women and children should support secure borders and the rule of law, rather than misguided open-borders policies that empower and enrich cartels and gangs that force women, and even children, into prostitution.”

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Dear Incoming Secretary of HHS RFK, Jr.: Please save the 325,000 lost and stolen children in America from brutal human slavery!

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“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” — Abraham Lincoln, former U.S. President

“Human trafficking is an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ. It is a crime against humanity.” —Pope Francis

“Remember that every person on the streets, in a club, on the internet, in a hotel room, WHEREVER they may be, have families and loved ones and hearts just as you do, and that they are worthy and enough. When you see us, could you just offer a small smile? Extend a small bit of compassion even though you may not personally understand? Small, simple actions have the potential to make a large impact, and now is the time more than ever before.” —Melissa Diehl, survivor of human trafficking

In a December 12, 2023 study by the National Libraries of Medicine titled Labor trafficking in marijuana production: a hidden epidemic in the shadows of the cannabis industry , ,  ,  wrote,

Labor trafficking in marijuana production remains a concealed epidemic within the expanding cannabis industry. This abstract brings attention to the systemic exploitation of vulnerable individuals engaged in cultivating, harvesting, and processing cannabis. It explores the factors contributing to labor trafficking, including demand for cheap labor, inadequate regulation, and the vulnerability of the workforce. By compiling published cases, both in peer-reviewed literature and the media, this perspective piece investigates the extent of health issues experienced by labor-trafficked victims. These include chronic pain from repetitive tasks, respiratory problems due to exposure to pesticides and other toxic substances, musculoskeletal injuries, malnutrition, and mental health disorders stemming from trauma and extreme stress. Additionally, this perspective article examines the factors contributing to poor health outcomes of labor-trafficked victims, including hazardous working conditions, lack of access to healthcare, and physical and psychological abuse. Addressing the health challenges faced by labor-trafficked victims in the cannabis industry requires multidimensional solutions: awareness among healthcare providers, comprehensive medical services, and mental health support. Furthermore, collaborative efforts among government agencies, healthcare providers, labor organizations, and the cannabis industry are essential in preventing trafficking and addressing the health disparities faced by labor-trafficked victims.

Read the full study.

The Center for Immigration Studies’  Colin Farnsworth in a September 16, 2024 article title HHS Stonewalls FOIA Request on ‘Lost’ Migrant Children wrote,

On August 30, 2024, Donald Trump claimed at a campaign rally that the Biden-Harris administration had lost track of 325,000 unaccompanied migrant children who had crossed the border illegally. It appears Trump’s statement was based roughly on numbers cited in an August 19, 2024, report prepared by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security.

Concerns over the number of missing migrant children was first widely published in early 2023 by both the New York Times and the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. Those reports stated that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) lost contact with 85,000 migrant children in the first two years of the Biden-Harris administration after releasing the children to adult “sponsors”.

Based on these 2023 reports, the Center for Immigration Studies submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to HHS to obtain “The zip code for each sponsor associated with each unaccompanied alien child (UAC) that the agency could not reach after its ‘safety and wellbeing call’, since January 1, 2021.” The Center’s request was designed to obtain the last known zip code of each missing child and, in turn, would also provide an updated count of missing children since the most recently reported number in early 2023. The Center’s FOIA request specifically stated its underlying purpose:

the requested records will provide the public, including law and policy makers, with the information to know whether there are any themes and trends regarding the frequency and geographic locations of the more than 85,000 “missing” UAC. Furthermore, by providing the zip codes of the last known location of the “missing” UAC, the public, including law and policy makers, can identify which communities have been most affected which could result in better resource management, as well as more direct and localized policy changes and oversight.

On April 10, 2024, HHS produced a spreadsheet that it claimed satisfied the Center’s FOIA request. However, instead of the spreadsheet containing at least 85,000 zip codes, reflecting the zip code “associated with each [UAC] that the agency could not reach after its ‘safety and wellbeing call,’” the spreadsheet only included 8,650 zip codes (each distinct), with each zip code reflecting anywhere from one to thousands of missing UACs, making it impossible to identify any “trends regarding the frequency and geographic locations” of the missing UAC, and the total number thereof.

Continue reading.

©2024 Beverly Newman, Ed. D. All rights reserved.

‘A Self-Feeding Circle’: How A Web Of NGOs Enabled By Biden-Harris Is Fueling The Migrant Crisis

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A web of NGOs is collaborating with government agencies to facilitate the resettlement of refugees – and Biden-Harris policies have only exacerbated the migrant crisis, sources told the Caller.

Immigration was thrust into the public spotlight as towns in America were overwhelmed with migrants, from Springfield, Ohio to Aurora, Colorado. Bureaucracies and non-profits often work in tandem to resettle refugees, and NGOs have only grown in influence under the Biden-Harris administration, experts said.

“It’s undeniable that the Biden Administration’s border policy has benefited the network of immigration NGOs that receive massive government contracts and grants to deal with the logistical and humanitarian problems that mass illegal immigration has caused,” the Capital Research Center’s Parker Thayer told the Caller in a statement.

While it’s difficult to quantify precisely how much NGOs have benefited, Thayer pointed to a USA Spending database. It shows that since 2020, federal spending on loans, grants, and contracts with the keyword “immigrant” has skyrocketed by almost tenfold.

Screenshot from USA Spending.gov

Kevin Lynn, Executive Director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, told the Caller there is a process in place for resettling refugees, and NGOs work with government agencies to further that goal.

He pointed to the Biden-Harris administration’s Welcome Corps.

The Welcome Corps is a refugee sponsorship program where “groups of at least five people” can sponsor a refugee, according to the initiative’s site. The State Department’s Office of the Spokesperson claimed last year the program “is the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades.”

“Welcome Corps was launched the Biden administration under the refugee resettlement program, and it basically allows private individuals to select their own refugees and future American citizens,” Lynn told the Caller.

Kevin Lynn, Executive Director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, told the Caller there is a process in place for resettling refugees, and NGOs work with government agencies to further that goal.

He pointed to the Biden-Harris administration’s Welcome Corps.

The Welcome Corps is a refugee sponsorship program where “groups of at least five people” can sponsor a refugee, according to the initiative’s site. The State Department’s Office of the Spokesperson claimed last year the program “is the boldest innovation in refugee resettlement in four decades.”

“Welcome Corps was launched the Biden administration under the refugee resettlement program, and it basically allows private individuals to select their own refugees and future American citizens,” Lynn told the Caller.

The program’s partners include the Department of State and its Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM). It also partnered with the Church World Service (CWS) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which transformed the city into the “refugee capital of the world,” according to Lynn.

The city’s website denotes itself as “America’s refugee capital” and explains that it assists in resettling refugees.

A fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Housing and Development for landlords and property managers states the federal government collaborates with 10 resettlement agencies that have over 340 affiliates nationwide. The documents list various financial assistance and support that refugees receive, including employment services.

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has an agency called the Administration for Children & Families, and under its purview is the Office of Refugee Resettlement which partners with nonprofits in states that participate in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. The only state not listed is Wyoming.

In fact, the site even has a tool for people to locate various refugee resettlement NGOs in their area.

Rather than trying to figure out how to stop the administration from resettling more aliens in OH, perhaps OH should consider reducing the incentives for them to come. Here’s a starting point:

1) Mandatory E-Verify;
2) Restrictions on welfare benefits;
3) Enforcement of…

— Immigration Accountability Project (@I_A_Project) September 10, 2024

Thayer noted many of these NGOs would not exist without government support. “It’s hard to call them grassroots,” he told the Caller.

He pointed to The Vera Institute for Justice as an example of governments funneling taxpayer dollars into nonprofits.

The Institute gets millions in federal dollars to represent illegal immigrants in immigration court while it pushes for soft-on-crime and open borders polices that lead to larger government contracts, Thayer said.

“It’s a self-feeding circle,” he concluded.

Over the last 40 years, the corporatocracy has created massive networks supported by business, NGOs and governments at the federal, state and local levels to prioritize the hiring of both legal and illegal immigrants over Americans.

The education system and corporate media… https://t.co/5J8i13bcdr

— Project for Immigration Reform (@PFIRorg) September 19, 2024

One group listed on HHS’s site is Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio, a non-profit that partners with the State Department for Refugee Resettlement. According to a 2023 audit of the group’s finances, one of its main sources of revenue is grants and fees from the government, to the tune of several million dollars.

A facility in Springfield opened up earlier this year to assist with immigration services, and it’s directed by Catholic Charities Southwest Ohio, the Springfield News-Sun reported. CEO Tony Stieritz said the organization has been giving aid in the city for over a year, according to the outlet.

However, the organization states on its website that it “had no role in bringing migrants to the Springfield area,” and it does not provide “resettlement services in Springfield.”

The national organization Catholic Charities recently came under fire on social media after reports showed the Galveston, Texas, chapter substantially increased its revenue under the Biden Administration.

🚨QUESTION: How does the Revenue for the NGO the Catholic Charities nearly quadruple since the Biden Administration took over?

In 2018 the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston only brought in $44 million

In 2021. the revenue for NGO blossomed to $217 million. pic.twitter.com/m5mGfNY12l

— Merissa Hansen⚡️ (@merissahansen17) September 9, 2024

Illegal immigration to the U.S. has accelerated rapidly under Biden.

The Biden-Harris administration is attempting to make open borders “a part of the infrastructure,” according to Chris Chmielenski, President of the Immigration Accountability Project.

“And just to be clear, all of these people are technically in the country illegally, because they’ve been paroled by the administration,” he emphasized.

Kevin Lynn pointed to Biden’s CBP One app, arguing that it expedites illegal immigration. “They’re granting these blanket paroles, where the whole intention of parole was to be determined on a case-by-case basis.”

He explained the initial intent of parole was to grant travelers temporary status if they needed to come to the U.S. for a specific reason, such as for an emergency medical procedure.

The app was originally created during COVID-19 in Oct. 2020 to reduce the amount of time that travelers spent in person with CBP officers to schedule appointments, according to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).

Now, the Biden-Harris administration uses it to allow people without the necessary documentation to enter into the U.S. interior, according to CIS. The app allows migrants to make appointments in Central America and Mexico, which CIS argues incentivizes illegal immigrants to use smugglers.

There is another parole process specifically for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, Lynn told the Caller. A person in the U.S. can sponsor someone from these nations – but the sponsor doesn’t have to be an American citizen, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The agency’s definition of a supporter includes “asylees, refugees, and parolees” along with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) individuals. In June, the Biden administration granted TPS for 300,000 Haitians.

“Now these refugees parolees can sponsor people, people who are here on temporary protected status,” Lynn said.

Chmielenski told the Caller that NGOs are facilitating the resettlement process for migrants. “They’re helping [migrants] go through the process of applying for their work permit,” he stated, adding they could be eligible for public benefits.

“Essentially, the administration is having the NGOs do their dirty work for them,” Chmielenski said.

AUTHOR

Eireann Van Natta

General assignment reporter.

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‘Criminally Liable’: Springfield Residents Know Exactly Who To Blame For Migrant Crisis Hitting Their Town

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Where is the Joy?

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Simply put, if you want smart kids, teach phonics in K-3. Remember, the Communist Democrats do not want smart kids asking a lot of questions and accumulating a lot of stuff. Dems want obedient, non-thinking students who will follow their directions, accept their lies without question, and become their new voter base. They now have the the hive mentality. We are the Borg. This is the Agenda of the Democrat party.

The Democrats have just incorporated a new policy for immigration. Immigration policy is now focused on losing children. 30,000 of them. According to Newsweek,

A recent audit by the Department of Homeland Security‘s Office of Inspector General uncovered that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to monitor over 30,000 unaccompanied migrant children after their release from government custody. ICE has no assurance UCs (unaccompanied migrant children) are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s report warned.”

How do you lose 30,000 children?  You hire incompetent people that are more focused on their DEI hire, than the job they must do.  Not to worry, we are told Kamala will fix the border. Do you really expect her to fix the mess she created?

We also just found out that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ just-released revised jobs report that the Regime fudged the statistics. The Regime, lies and had 818,000 more jobs which now have to be subtracted from 2023-2024 totals.  Interesting how the propaganda machine called MSM reported this. They said, Jobs report: US economy added 818,000 fewer jobs.  They think we are stupid.  Sadly, some people are, and will add the jobs. This is the point.  They should have said “subtracted”.  To follow up, they also didn’t report that most jobs were part-time and the majority of the jobs went to unvaxed illegals. This is a loss of about 70,000 jobs per month.

To add insult to injury, the DEI Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo said when asked, ” I am not familiar with that.” How can you be Secretary of Commerce, and not know the annual jobs numbers?

Another talking point is the Trump tax cuts, and how they only benefited the wealthy.  Let’s face it, the Commie Dems have only 2 policies high on their hit parade: Trump and Abortion. They can’t understand why the people they screwed are leaving the party in droves. They lie all the time about the Trump tax cuts, which are about to expire. To set the record straight, the Trump cuts helped everyone. Despite CBO’s Predictions, Trump Tax Cuts Were a Boon for America’s Economy and Working Families | The U.S. House Committee on the Budget – House Budget Committee

Kamala’s policies are right out of the Communist play book. They will adversely affect all of us. Here are a few:

  • Price Control — causes inflation, shortages, black market
  • Open Border — https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/fact-check-harris-was- biden-s-second-border-czar-despite-recent-media-claims/ar-BB1qC2XX 2
  • 25% Tax on unearned capital gains income – bye bye equity on the things you own.
  • Universal government controlled healthcare- you will lose your doctor
  • Entitlements for illegals — paid by taxpayers while Vets live on the street.
  • Wars — more money for Palestine and Ukraine
  • No Tax on Tips — proposed after Trump
  • Killing Babies — late term abortion so they can sell body parts.  Planned Parenthood is now offering free vasectomies and abortions.
  • BBB eliminates fracking — but now she favors fracking- Kamala lies

I could go on and on, but the Trump team did it for us. Check it out: https://kamala2024policies.com/

Where did all of this hate, now called joy…come from?  How did they infiltrate our government? How did all of these America-hating groups get so entrenched in our government, agencies, and our education?  What can we do about it?

©2024. Karen Schoen. All rights reserved.

Please visit Karen’s Newsletter Substack.

Join my guest, William Federer and I as we discuss the new revolution and communism in America.

Who is running the show?  https://intelligencer.today/the-council-who-is-running-the-united-states-of-america/18/07/2024/8132/

Film/Book: Government Gangsters:  https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/government-gangsters-the-deep-state-the-truth-and-the-battle-for-our-democracy/

The voter numbers were not good for the primary.  We must have a Get Out the Vote effort.  Can you register 5 people to vote? Is America worth saving? What will you do? Join: https://protectthevote.com/

Join the Florida Citizens Alliance  goflca.org    Help save America mentor a child.

Show Link https://www.americaoutloud.news/the-prism-of-americas-education/

Show: Sat and Sun 7AM ET and 5PM ET on  https://www.americaoutloud.news/

Podcasts and Articles:    karenbschoen.com      karenschoen.substack.com

Guest:  William Federer, journalist, speaker, author, historian.

Website:  americanminute.com

Late News:

RFK JR. stopped his campaign and is joining Trump. His values no longer fit with the Communist DNC. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/rfk-jr-says-court-filing-endorsing-trump-ending-presidential-hopes-rcna165936

When the OBiden administration in a major disaster pulled out of Afghanistan, and gave our resources to the Taliban, we said it was just a matter of time before they go after the women. I was called lots of names including a liar. I was a moron, who knows nothing. Once again I was right.  https://www.newsweek.com/afghanistans-taliban-bans-womens-voices-bare-faces-public-1943121  The AP detailed the contents of “Article 13” of the ministry’s new laws, which relates to rules for women. The article said women must veil their bodies at all times while in public, including wearing a face covering to avoid tempting men. Their clothing is also not allowed to be too tight or too short. The document further states that women are forbidden from singing or reading aloud in public, and they are not allowed to look at men unless they are related by blood or marriage. Females are also not permitted to travel alone.   This is the same playbook of Hamas.  I wonder if the Hamas protesters have any clue. Maybe they should be jailed with burqas as the new prison garb. When the left goes after you personally, you know you are right.

Thousands of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Now Victims of ‘Taxpayer-Funded Child Slavery’

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Data collected between February of 2021 and January of 2024 revealed “464,922 [unaccompanied] children have been encountered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection police nationwide.” Some experts, such as those from the child immigrant aid organization Kids in Need of Defense, have explained this surplus of unaccompanied minors was “expected” and likely due to “U.S. measures implemented at the border during the coronavirus pandemic.” But what is shocking, experts have gone on to point out, is how the whereabouts of thousands of these children are unknown, with the biggest concern being that many are becoming victims of human trafficking.

These concerns flooded the mainstream media as whistleblowers testified in a roundtable discussion on Tuesday. The accusation laid forth is that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Labor are guilty “of covering up how the government and contracted companies have failed to properly care for 500,000 parentless immigrant children in government custody at the border,” the Washington Examiner reported.

Acknowledging the outcry, HHS Secretary Xavier Bacerra said, “No child has gone missing under our watch.” But Allison Dyer pointed out on X that not only is Bacerra’s statement false, but she used information collected by a New York Times report to highlight that “85,000 unaccompanied children released to sponsors in the United States by our government are unable to be accounted for,” meaning “their whereabouts or welfare are unknown.”

Emphasizing a point similar to Dyer, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also serves on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, argued that the claims that these children are not unaccounted for shows a “blatant lack of transparency with the American people.” He added, “Frankly, it is hard to see this as anything other than an effort to cover up and shield the Biden administration from scrutiny for its mistreatment and mishandling of unaccompanied children, particularly in an election year where the president is behind in the polls.”

HHS whistleblower Deborah White described the circumstances as “taxpayer-funded child slavery,” and she noted that part of what led to this was the government “prioritizing speed over safety.” As a result, she stated, children are being sent to abandoned houses, unsafe homes, and even one case in which “a child was sent to an open field,” which only further proves the lack of integrity of the system. White said that even after several concerns were raised, nothing was done to stop children from being sent to dangerous locations.

“[I]t’s unbelievable that we’re … talking about government-sponsored, taxpayer funded child trafficking,” said Tara Rodas on Thursday’s episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.” Rodas, who formerly worked for the Department of Health and Human Services and testified on Tuesday, explained how she and some of her “colleagues began reporting trafficking cases in June of 2021.” She sighed, “So, if you can imagine, it’s been more than three years” since those first reports.

Rodas emphasized how their efforts were received better “in the beginning, and [we] thought they were going to do something about it.” However, over time, they were threatened and warned from “coming forward to speak the truth.” And “this is not just one incident,” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out, further noting that she “began to see … patterns.”

Rodas explained that what it boils down to is a system that is not organized or monitored well. “So,” she continued, “you can imagine how easily a system like that is exploited.” The process, she described, is that children are brought across the southern border “from Guatemala, El Salvador, all over Central and South America with smugglers.” Then, “the smugglers give them the name and address to where they’re going, the children turn that into Border Patrol, Border patrol turns it over to us at HHS, and then we send the child to that person. It’s really end-to-end delivery.”

And the issue with this, as Perkins noted, is that there’s “no verification of relationship, family connection or anything” to ensure these children end up in a safe place. Again, he contended, “[T]his is being funded by tax dollars. I mean, we’re bringing these children to this country and allowing them to be exploited. This is … horrific.”

In many cases, Rodas explained that what leads children to these horrible homes is the fact that “there is no ultimate verification because” the government “did not even verify if the person was a legal permanent resident.” But ultimately, she insisted, no sensible “child welfare organization around the globe would send a child to an unknown person. … That doesn’t even make sense. And yet, that’s what the government is doing.” However, Rodas concluded that sitting idle is not an option. “There are children in crisis now, and we need to rescue” them.

AUTHOR

Sarah Holliday

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Watch ‘Screams Before Silence’ for insights into the satanically directed Muslim sexual jihad

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Please watch this movie today and you will understand why Israel must completely destroy Hamas.

This powerful yet disturbing movie explains the premeditated Hamas military tactic of unimaginable sexual destruction, dismemberment and diabolical humiliation designed to follow Quran 8:60 of “striking terror in the hearts of the enemy.”

Ironically, “Screams Before Silence,” does the exact opposite, striking “righteous indignation” in the hearts of men and women grounded in Biblical Truth.

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The Media is Promoting Evil Lies About the Situation in the Mideast

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EDITORS NOTE: This The United West column with video is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

DeSantis Signs Bill Targeting Addictive Social Media and ‘Digital Trafficking’

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The Sunshine State is moving to protect children from “addictive” social media and the “danger” of online predators. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law on Monday prohibiting minors under the age of 14 from opening or operating social media accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.

H.B. 3 bars children under 14 “from creating new accounts” and requires “social media platforms to terminate certain accounts and provide additional options for termination of such accounts.” The legislation also requires minors aged 14 and 15 to obtain parental consent before creating social media accounts and mandates “age verification measures for internet sites that contains [sic] obscene or ‘harmful’ content, unsuitable for minors,” such as pornographic websites.

“Documentation of the deleterious effects of social media on children abounds, and yet we still seem hesitant to place governmental authority over this powerful force. I am glad to see efforts like the one in Florida,” Family Research Council Senior Fellow Meg Kilgannon said in comments to The Washington Stand. “The need to protect children from online predators specifically is very real, but the general effort to rein in social media in favor of authentic relationships and in-person engagement is more important than ever.”

In a brief speech before signing the legislation, DeSantis said, “One of the things that I know a lot of parents have had concerns about is the role that the internet and social media play in the upbringing of young kids.” He continued, “Now, with things like social media and all this, you can have a kid in the house — safe, seemingly — and then you have predators that get right in there, into your own home. You could be doing everything right, but they know how to get and manipulate these different platforms.” Referring to his own family and his role as governor, DeSantis noted, “One of the things that informs me on issues relating to children is just being a dad of young children.”

Following DeSantis, Florida House Speaker Paul Renner (R) said, “Knowing what I know now, none of us can afford to be on the sidelines when it comes to social media, when it comes to hardcore pornography that our kids are being exposed to.” He explained, “We know from law enforcement, we know from our prosecutors, that social media is the primary platform in which children are trafficked, in which pedophiles … pretending to be children, come after our children, and that more crimes against children happen on these platforms than any other venue.”

“Our bill is focused on addiction, and when you think about it, children are not set up to handle the addiction that some of us as adults have had to face and step away from,” Renner continued. “A child in their brain development doesn’t have the ability to know that they’re being sucked in to these addictive technologies and to see the harm and step away from it.” Referring to social media as “digital trafficking,” the speaker asked, “If I said to you that a company was going to take children, use addiction that causes them harm for profit, what does that sound like? Sounds like trafficking to me.”

Florida Senator Erin Grall (R), who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, stated that social media companies “have made our parenting difficult by addicting our children.” She said that although she expects the law to be upheld if challenged in courts, “it always comes back to the parents,” who she said have “abdicated our responsibility” and allowed addictive social media platforms to serve as “babysitters.”

Grall’s original bill was vetoed earlier this month by DeSantis, who wanted stronger language protecting parental rights and addressing internet anonymity. The new law will take effect on January 1, 2025.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

‘A Biden Invasion’: Trump and Biden’s Border Speeches Make ‘An Extraordinary Contrast’

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President Donald Trump and Joe Biden offered dueling speeches at the nation’s southern border on Thursday, but geography proved all they had in common. Standing on Texas soil a mere 325 miles apart, their policies came from different political universes. President Trump promised the supportive people and Border Patrol agents of Eagle Pass he would reinstate the policies that undeniably gave the U.S. the most secure border in generations. Meanwhile in Brownsville, Biden and a collection of Democratic politicians sought to shift the blame for our open border to his Republican rivals.

“You’re in a war,” Trump told those gathered at the current epicenter of U.S. illegal immigration, a town where thousands of illegal border crossings take place every week. “This is a Biden invasion over the last three years.”

Biden “has destroyed our country,” said Trump before turning startlingly specific.

“Last year, almost half of all ICE arrests were criminal aliens charged for more than 33,000 assaults, 3,000 robberies, 6,900 burglaries, 7,500 weapons crimes — this is all migrant crime — 4,300 sex crimes, 1,600 kidnappings, and 1,700 homicides and murders.” Tellingly, the legacy media’s numerous “fact-checks” of Trump’s speech found no error in these grim statistics.

President Biden had nothing to offer but political finger-pointing, fastening the blame for his administration’s immigration crisis on Republicans who opposed full-blown amnesty. “On my first day as president,” Biden said, “I introduced a bill I sent to Congress, a comprehensive plan to fix the broken immigration system and to secure the border, but no action was taken.” The bill he sent — the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced by disgraced Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) — would have been the largest amnesty bill in U.S. history. Biden explained his bill would have put nearly all illegal immigrants on “a path to citizenship” or legal status within no more than eight years, spent billions in foreign aid to address supposed “root causes” of migration and expanded the visa lottery system. The American people have consistently rejected another amnesty program for two decades.

Biden then hailed a “bipartisan group of senators” on a new Ukraine funding bill, which he claims contains “the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen in our country.” In reality, the bill would simply supercharge the velocity at which the torrent of alleged “refugees” would be processed — and released — into the United States.

While Biden blamed the GOP (and, implicitly, the American people) for a crisis of his own making, he said nothing about the concrete actions he took that necessitated his PR stop.

How Joe Biden Destroyed U.S. Border Security

Joe Biden has proposed or enacted a panoply of policies opening America’s border, and enticing throngs of illegal immigrants to cross the U.S. border even before he took office. During the 2020 Democratic primaries, Biden promised illegal immigrants who could reach our soil would receive health care funded by the U.S. taxpayer. He campaigned on giving illegal immigrants amnesty. He even demanded a border “surge.”

“I would in fact make sure that we immediately surge to the border all those people who are seeking asylum,” said Biden at a Democratic primary debate. “You should come.” In a rare fulfilled political promise, throngs of illegals immediately arrived in Biden campaign t-shirts emblazoned with the message, “Biden please let us in.”

Candidate Biden vowed, “There will not be another foot of wall constructed” during his presidency. President Biden instantly halted construction and welded its gates open, only to modestly reverse himself last October. In the meantime, Biden forced U.S. taxpayers to pay at least $47 million — $130,000 a day — to store the unused parts of the border wall, which he proceeded to auction off for pennies on the dollar.

Biden signed 17 executive orders on his first day in office with a keen eye to opening the U.S. border. He reinstated catch-and-release. Most consequentially, Biden ended Trump’s successful Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), conventionally known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy on June 1, 2021. He then suspended Title 42, a Trump-era policy that allows rapid removal of illegal immigrants on the grounds of the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time he claimed the pandemic was still ravaging the U.S.

Biden effectively ended deportations, even of criminal aliens. In the entire Biden administration through last March, Biden deported less than 6,000 of the more than two million illegal aliens released onto U.S. streets, or just over zero percent, according to the House Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. He further gutted protections last April, reducing the number of questions border enforcement officers may ask illegal immigrants, from 40 to five.

Biden proceeded to order federal agents to cut through barbed wire keeping illegal immigrants out of the southern border and literally sued the state of Texas to stop Governor Greg Abbott (R) from doing President Biden’s job.

The disastrous results of Biden’s policies are clear.

How Americans Are Paying for Biden’s Border Disaster

A record-breaking numbers of illegal immigrants have crossed the U.S. borders (northern and southern) every year of his presidency — each year worse than the last. U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded:

  • 1,956,519 illegal border crossings in fiscal year 2021.
  • 2,766,582 in FY 2022.
  • 3,201,144 in FY 2023.
  • 1,231,213 since last October 1.

When Border Patrol agents add in “gotaways,” they safely estimate a total of 10 million illegal border crossings during the Biden administration — more than the population of 41 states. That ignores the fact that Yale University researchers estimated the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. at 16 to 29 millionbefore Biden took office.

These illegal immigrants were drawn like a magnet by Biden’s offers of taxpayer-subsidized benefits and U.S. citizenship for themselves or their “dreamer” children. “We weren’t promising free education, free medical, free everything,” said Trump on Thursday. “All the promises that are made, no wonder they come.” Even if Kamala Harris halfheartedly mouths the words, “Do not come,” the Biden-Harris administration has already laid out an enticing welfare welcome mat.

Illegal immigrants now hail from “every single country in the world.” Agents report a 5,000% increase in the number of illegal aliens entering the U.S. from China over a three-year period.

Biden’s border surge includes a small-but-significant number: Border Patrol agents have encountered 1,557 people on the U.S. terror watchlist (technically, the Terrorist Screening Dataset, or TSDS) since fiscal year 2021. The 59 suspected terrorists caught this fiscal year exceeds the total number than during the entire Trump administration. The number of terror-tied illegal immigrants intercepted during the Biden administration is 10 times higher than the number that used to give Obama-Biden terror official Tim Healy “sleepless nights.”

When illegal border-crossers do not commit acts of terrorism, their crime sprees prove just as deadly to native-born Americans. In just the last few days, the category of offenses Trump deemed “Biden migrant crimes” include:

  • Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, a nursing student whose skull was bashed in by an illegal immigrant.
  • An 11-year-old girl raped and murdered in Pasadena, Texas.
  • A two-year-old boy killed in cold blood in Maryland;
  • Three police officers in Washington, D.C., shot by an illegal immigrant from Jamaica.

“Joe Biden will never say Laken Riley’s name. We will say it, and we will remember it,” said Trump on Thursday. Add the fact that the Biden administration admits it has simply lost 85,000 children, possibly to abusers or traffickers, and it is hardly surprising Trump said, “The blood of countless innocent victims” is on Biden’s hands.

Biden’s border policies cost Americans their blood and treasure. Illegal immigrants posed a net cost of $150.7 billion to U.S. taxpayers in 2023 alone, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Leaving aside all other social costs, Biden spent as much money resettling purported “refugees” in his first two years in office as it would have cost to finish the border wall (approximately $20 billion). Biden chose insecurity, murder, and chaos over American lives.

While Biden’s border policies literally and figuratively bleed Americans, they have “generated historic profit margins” for the drug-and-human-smuggling cartels. The cartels that control the border earn $32 million a week smuggling illegals across the Del Rio sector of the border alone, the House Judiciary Committee revealed last month. The drug cartels to which Biden ceded authority over the border are now so deeply mired in human trafficking that it has “become central to their business model,” according to a report from the House Committee on Homeland Security.

No wonder the president of the Border Patrol union, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd, said Thursday, “Border Patrol agents are upset that we cannot get the proper policy that is necessary to protect human life, to protect American citizens, to protect the people that are crossing the border illegally. We want to protect them, as well. And we can’t do that, because President Biden’s policies continue to invite people to cross here.” (Emphasis added.)

Surveying the two speeches, Governor Abbott declared, “Today is a day of an extraordinary contrast.” Biden made “an obligatory visit” to “some sanitized location in the Brownsville” area, because “Biden does not care about Texas or the border.”

Abbott recited a litany of actions he has taken — from declaring a border invasion, to erecting barbed wire fencing and orange buoys, to busing illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities, to calling in the Texas National Guard and appointing his own border czar.

In Thursday’s speeches, President Donald Trump hailed Abbott as he promised to return to the sanity of defending America’s borders, values, and laws. Meanwhile, Joe Biden dodged accountability and promoted policies that would worsen the problem.

AUTHOR

Ben Johnson

Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Debunking Child Trafficking Myths in the USA & Facing the Truth

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Child trafficking is a heinous violation of human rights, with many misconceptions obscuring the real issues. Let’s unpack and demystify these myths, offering a transparent lens into the truth about child trafficking in the USA.

What is Child Trafficking?

The sale and exploitation of children, often for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation. It involves the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of minors through force, deception, or coercion. Tragically, child trafficking treats children as commodities, prioritizing profit over their well-being and fundamental rights. This heinous crime occurs globally, transcending borders and socio-economic barriers, and demands urgent attention and collective action to safeguard the vulnerable youth. Read more.

Recognizing the Signs of Child Trafficking:

  • Children traveling alone or with non-relative adults.
  • Children appearing dominated by an accompanying adult.
  • Unexplained school absences or frequent transfers.
  • History of runaways or homelessness.
  • Child labor with long hours or low pay.
  • Expensive possessions or inappropriate clothing.
  • Overcrowding or unsafe environments.
  • Tattoos or branding hinting at commercial sex trafficking.
  • Performance of sexual acts or prostitution.

Read more.

Dispelling Myths:

Myth 1: Child trafficking mostly happens in developing countries.

Reality: The USA is the main source and destination for child trafficking, with an estimated annual income of $50 billion from child sex trafficking.

Myth 2: Child trafficking mostly involves kidnapping.

Reality: Trafficking methods vary, and most trafficking isn’t through abduction. Kidnapping is one of many tactics, but statistically, it’s the minority of the instances of child trafficking. Over 90% of the time, children are trafficked by family members and/or friends.

Myth 3: Trafficking victims come from low-income backgrounds.

Reality: While socio-economic vulnerabilities can play a role, children from all economic, racial, and social backgrounds can become victims of trafficking. It’s not restricted by socio-economic status, region, or neighborhood type. Traffickers often exploit areas where they believe they won’t be suspected or caught.

Myth 4: If they wanted to leave, they could.

Reality: Many assume that victims of trafficking can easily leave their situations if they wanted. However, traffickers often use manipulation, threats, violence, and other coercive tactics to control and keep their victims from seeking help.

Myth 5: Trafficking involves moving across borders.

Reality: Trafficking doesn’t always involve the transportation of victims across state or national borders. It can occur within the same state, city, or community.

Myth 6: Trafficking children can be easily identified.

Reality: The truth is, most victims are scripted and show subtle signs that may not be obvious to most. Many may overlook a child who is attending their school or church, unwitting to the harsh reality that child may be facing in their home life.

Myth 7: Law enforcement can easily spot and handle trafficking.

Reality: Trafficking cases can be complex, and specialized training is often needed to recognize and handle them appropriately.

Myth 8: Traffickers are sinister strangers: 

Reality: It’s a common belief that traffickers are always unknown to the victim. In many instances, traffickers can be family members, friends, or acquaintances who exploit the trust and vulnerability of the child.

Myth 9: ​​Child trafficking is only for sexual exploitation.

Reality: While sexual exploitation is rampant, children face trafficking for many sinister purposes, including forced labor and organ trafficking.

Myth 10: Only girls are trafficked.

Reality: Trafficking doesn’t discriminate by gender. Boys are also victims of trafficking for both sexual and labor exploitation.

Echoes of Trauma: Effects on Child Trafficking Survivors

A. Psychological Trauma:

  • Deep-rooted trauma and PTSD become a part of many trafficked children’s lives. This impacts their mental health, relationships, self worth, and perspective of the world.
  • What may seem normal or even comforting to the average person may be very off putting and even distressing for survivors. Compassion, grace, and understanding, along with quality trauma-informed therapy are paramount to supporting a survivor’s healing journey.
  • If untreated, the persistent trauma can lead to long-term mental and physical health challenges.

Read more on healing and overcoming trauma.

B. Physical Aftermath:

  • Trafficked children frequently face health complications and injuries from their experiences. Many have lasting physical symptoms even decades after the trauma.
  • Many victims were deprived of basic needs and suffered additional trauma due to subpar living conditions.
  • Survivors may take a while to get comfortable around other people, especially crowds or strangers, and feel safe in their surroundings.

Our Collective Role Against Trafficking:

  • Government Measures: Strengthen and enforce laws, amplify awareness, and establish dedicated local and federal task forces.
  • Community Vigilance: By spotting and reporting suspicious activities, communities can reduce the predator’s ability to operate and prevent countless children from trauma.
  • Personal Duty: Awareness, support, and action. Support the organizations on the front lines of the fight against child trafficking in the USA.

In Summary:

Child trafficking remains a dark shadow in our society. The myths and misunderstandings surrounding it only hinder our fight against this crime. With a better understanding and collective responsibility, we can not only raise awareness but also put an end to this atrocious act.

Act now. Dive deeper into preventative strategies in our “Tools & Education” section and stand up against child trafficking in the USA!

EDITORS NOTE: This Veterans 4 Child Rescue column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Democrats Join GOP in Alarm at Treatment of Unaccompanied Minors by Becerra’s HHS

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As the number of unaccompanied minors crossing the U.S. border reaches unprecedented highs, concerns are growing that the ongoing border crisis is fueling a rise in the abuse of minors through sex trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation. On Wednesday, during a House Oversight Committee hearing to address the issue, both Republicans and Democrats expressed alarm at the job performance of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and his agency in handling unaccompanied minors and how sponsors for the minors are vetted.

In February, a New York Times investigation revealed that 250,000 unaccompanied minors had entered the U.S. in the last two years alone, at a rate that was three times higher than it was five years ago. It has fallen to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide a “sponsor” to these children who are supposed to provide for and protect them from exploitation. But as a result of the massive influx, the Times noted that “the Biden White House has ramped up demands on staffers to move the children quickly out of shelters and release them to adults.” This has led to caseworkers “rush[ing] through vetting sponsors.”

Alarmingly, the Times went on to report that “over the last two years, the agency could not reach more than 85,000 children” after it attempted to contact them a month after they were placed with their sponsor. “Overall, the agency lost immediate contact with a third of migrant children.”

The Times report further detailed how many children were forced to work low-paying, hard-labor jobs by their sponsors as repayment for taking them in. Still, Becerra pressured staffers to quickly discharge children to sponsors. “If Henry Ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich. This is not the way you do an assembly line,” he said during a staff meeting in 2022. In March, Becerra threatened to find someone to replace Cindy Huang, the director of HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), unless she could increase the number of discharges. She resigned a month later.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) asked Becerra if his agency inspected the homes of 100% of the prospective sponsors before granting them the sponsorship of a minor. He replied, “We will often do home studies of sponsors” instead of answering the question directly. “I guess that’s a ‘no,’” Lesko observed. She went on to point out that a family in Austin, Texas “had more than 100 children sent to it by ORR. Another Texas address had 44 children, a third had 25. … I do not think you are doing an adequate job.”

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) further pressed Becerra on if his agency allowed 17-year-old unaccompanied males who identify as female into the private facilities of unaccompanied girls, based on HHS’s stated policy of affirming the chosen identities of transgender youth. “We make sure that we provide all the children in our care with the human rights protections and freedom from discrimination and abuse that they’re entitled to,” Becerra responded. “It should not work that way,” Crenshaw firmly replied. “It puts girls in danger, and I bet a lot of the girls are younger in age.”

Later, after Becerra refused to directly answer what his definition of a “thorough” background check was of adults who come across the border with small children claiming that they are in fact their children, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) pointed out that HHS only uses a DNA test to verify that the child is theirs in 9% of the cases and only employs a background check in 23% of the cases.

Even Democrats expressed alarm at Becerra’s job performance. Rep. Ann Eshoo (D-Calif.) was visibly disturbed after Becerra appeared to wash his hands of minors who were vetted for placement through his agency and ended up illegally working overnight shifts at construction sites, slaughterhouses, and factories, according to a New York Times report.

“This is so unsettling, this is so unsettling,” Eshoo lamented. “These are … the innocents of the world. This is really terrible. … Reports of trafficking and abuse of immigrant children has more than doubled from 2021 to 2022. At the end of the day, as HHS secretary, the buck stops with you. So, I can hope, I can pray, I can press. … This is something that needs to be totally removed from taking place in our country. Really, I think that God’s going to hold all of us responsible if this is not addressed, and addressed the way it should be.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

California Democrats Vote against Anti-Child Trafficking Bill, Then Change Course

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Last week, one Democrat in the California State Assembly made a rare public apology — not over a scandal, but over her position on a vote that had taken place the same week. Assembly member Liz Ortega had joined fellow Democrats just a few days earlier in blocking a bill aimed at cracking down on human trafficking of children. The move justifiably made national headlines and garnered widespread criticism. But it shouldn’t take a national controversy for Democrats to vote the right way on something as blatantly evil as the human trafficking of children.

Now, Assemblywoman Ortega says she “made a bad decision,” and in her public apology on Twitter, she wrote, “Voting against legislation targeting really bad people who traffic children was wrong. I regret doing that and I am going to help get this important legislation passed into law.”

On July 11, the California Assembly Committee on Public Safety failed to pass SB-14. The only two Republicans on the committee voted in favor. Yet not a single one of the six Democrats on the committee, including Ortega, voted in favor of the bill, instead making the cowardly decision to abstain from voting at all. The bill had already passed unanimously in the California State Senate in May with bipartisan support.

SB-14 would make “human trafficking of a minor” a “serious felony” under Section 1192.7 of the state’s Penal Code. “Serious” felonies get harsher punishments under California law and are considered “strikes” under California’s “Three Strikes Law.” Eighty-nine nonprofits and organizations and 13 individuals registered their support for the bill (including multiple district attorney’s offices, police departments, and anti-trafficking groups), while only seven groups opposed it. The State of California Department of Justice’s own website states, “California is one of the largest sites of human trafficking in the United States.” Thus, a bill aimed at making the penalty for trafficking children harsher should be something that California Assembly members of both parties can see is necessary.

After originally declining to vote for the bill, Ortega told the Washington Free Beacon, “Sending someone to prison for the rest of their lives is not going to fix the harm moving forward. And that’s the part I’m struggling with. It’s a complex issue.” Ortega’s grave misunderstanding of the criminal justice system was covered over by her with a veneer of compassion. It ignores the fact that putting a trafficker behind bars for a significant amount of time is not only an act of justice for the crimes that were committed, but it also protects the children whom the trafficker might target next were he or she not behind bars.

At the California Assembly’s hearing for the bill last Tuesday, one survivor of trafficking, Odessa Perkins, called out the Democrats’ reluctance to inflict harsher penalties for child trafficking as continuing the “horrific cycle of abuse and depravity.” As a black survivor of trafficking in California, her testimony contradicted opponents of the bill who claimed the proposal would lead to lead to overcrowded jails or contribute to mass incarceration of black individuals, saying, “I was molested and raped repeatedly by black and white men and even some women. So, it does not matter the race. What matters is saving our children. Traffickers are getting out of jail, parole, and reoffending …” Progressives who are soft on crime may try to use their tired and routine talking points, but this is simply not a racial issue, an economic issue, or even a partisan issue — it’s about protecting vulnerable children.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Senator Shannon Grove, expressed her shock and frustration that SB-14 was blocked, saying, “I am profoundly disappointed that committee Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to support the bill, with their stubborn and misguided objection to any penalty increase regardless of how heinous the crime.” Even Governor Gavin Newsom (D) was unhappy with the committee Democrats. The day after the committee vote, he called Grove to see how the bill might be revived. After the call, Newsom told reporters, “I want to understand exactly what happened yesterday. I take it very seriously.” He further noted that he “cares deeply” about the issue of child trafficking.

The public outcry and chastisement from California’s liberal governor was enough for most of the Democrats on the committee to reverse course entirely. On Thursday — just two days after the initial vote — the committee voted on SB-14 again. This time, it passed with six votes in favor while two Democrats still abstained from voting.

This is a small victory for justice and for the survivors of human trafficking. Next, the bill must be approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which will likely vote on the bill mid-to-late August, before going on to the full Assembly. Grove believes that “most Assembly Democrats want to vote for this bill if they are given a chance” and is hopeful that the bill will be successful.

The controversy in California comes at a time when child human trafficking is garnering heightened attention after the theater release of the movie “Sound of Freedom,” based on a true story of a sting operation in Latin American that successfully led to the rescue of dozens of children trapped in sex slavery. Negative reactions to the movie from some legacy media outlets have been outrageous. The Guardian published the following heading: “Sound of Freedom: the QAnon-adjacent thriller seducing America.” Rolling Stone followed suit with the headline “‘Sound of Freedom’: Box Office Triumph for QAnon Believers.” The Washington Post attempted a faux nuanced tone with “QAnon and ‘Sound of Freedom’ Both Rely on Tired Hollywood Tropes.”

Many in the legacy media are trying to discredit “Sound of Freedom” — and its underlying message that the trafficking of children is a serious problem that ought to be addressed — by linking it to the QAnon conspiracy theory. But it begs the question: why? Do these progressive elites not think that human trafficking of children happens? Or is the reason even more sinister? The exact motivation is unclear; but what should be clear to Christians is that there is an intense spiritual battle surrounding this issue right now. We must pray that the darkness will be exposed, and that American’s hearts will be moved to bring the perpetrators of trafficking to justice and the victims of trafficking to freedom.

Human trafficking should be exactly the type of issue that unites everyone with an intact conscience. Human trafficking, especially of defenseless children, is a horrifying reality — one that everyone should want to see effectively combatted, and ultimately ended. The debacle over SB-14 last week was unexpected and disappointing, even for California. It might have taken a national uproar for Democrats to rethink their position on SB-14, but at least some did rethink it and change course.

We can hope that California Assembly members will now work diligently to see SB-14 pass the full Assembly. Beyond that, politicians across the United States should strategize on how our laws can more effectively address this scourge upon society.

AUTHOR

Arielle Del Turco

Arielle Del Turco is Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, and co-author of “Heroic Faith: Hope Amid Global Persecution.”

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission.  All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

5 Things You Should Know about Human Trafficking

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Released in theaters last week, “Sound of Freedom” tells the true story of Tim Ballard, a Homeland Security agent who quits his job and joins forces with local Latin American law enforcement and underground contacts to rescue children caught in human trafficking. The film portrays Ballard as he sets up a sting operation that successfully frees a young Honduran boy and reunites him with his father. When the boy tells him about his sister who is still in captivity, Ballard becomes determined to find her. The heartfelt thriller has proven surprisingly successful, beating “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” at the box office on July 4.

Despite the heavy subject matter, “Sound of Freedom” leaves viewers feeling hopeful and motivated to make a difference. In the film, Ballard’s character expresses understandable frustration that more is not being done to free enslaved children, saying, “And every day, ordinary people don’t want to hear it. It’s too ugly for polite conversation.” The film’s early success will hopefully prove that thinking false.

Human trafficking — both sex trafficking and labor trafficking, including of children — remains a widespread global problem, and America is not left untouched. Here is what you should know about human trafficking.

1. Human Trafficking Is More Prevalent Than You Think

The U.S. Department of Justice defines human trafficking as “a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts.” This coercion can be presented as “subtle or overt, physical or psychological.” The breadth of the issue creates a complex web of victims with different experiences, the majority of which never receive justice for the evil committed against them.

It is estimated that nearly 28 million individuals are trafficked globally at any given time. Human trafficking creates a global profit of $150 billion each year, making it “the most lucrative crime after drug trafficking.” Even so, only a fraction of traffickers are punished for their crimes. In 2022, there were 15,159 prosecutions worldwide for trafficking, yet these culminated in only 5,577 convictions. In the United States specifically, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received over 10,000 reports regarding 16,554 victims throughout 2021.

While human trafficking is not limited just to sex crimes, statistics reveal that the U.S. is a top consumer of child sex in the world. In the U.S. alone, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received more than 17,200 reports of child sex trafficking in the United States in 2021. Geoff Rogers, co-founder of the United States Against Human Trafficking, reports how the “United States is the No. 1 consumer of sex worldwide,” and demand is often being driven with children. Rogers asserts there are “a multitude of kids that are being sold as sex slaves today in America,” over half of which come from the foster care system. These statistics confirm the somber reality of this evil; child sex trafficking not only exists in foreign nations, but it thrives here in our communities.

2. Porn Creates Demand for Sex trafficking, Including for Child Sex Trafficking

Studies have shown the consumption of pornography contributes to the objectification of human beings and an “acceptance of sexual mistreatment.” In a lecture on the link between pornography and sex trafficking conducted by the Family Research Council, Arina Grossu emphasized the addictive nature of pornography, which fuels the demand for more pornographic material and sex acts. Many of these commodities are provided by individuals who are sex trafficked.

Specifically, research shows that those who observe pornography most often were also the ones to purchase women in prostitution for sex acts. Journalist John-Henry Westen asserts that viewership creates increased acceptance for violent, disturbing pornography, ultimately culminating in a clientele for the sex trafficking industry. With desensitization — and even broad acceptance — of porn consumption and engaging in pornographic activity, sex trafficking victims are used to meet the demand and produce content without the opportunity to express true consent. With the worldwide pornography industry worth $97 billion — its success largely attributed to its addictive nature — traffickers have an incentive to continue using victims for continued economic profit.

Even more startling is the growing success of online child pornography consumption. Of those who view child pornography, between 40-80% have in fact molested a minor themselves. Further research concludes 66-90% of women used to create pornographic material were victims of sexual abuse at some point during their childhood. This connection between childhood abuse and increased likelihood of being sex trafficked for pornographic material in the future draws attention to the crisis our society faces in protecting children from this evil.

3. Current U.S. Border Policy Is Enabling Human Traffickers

It is estimated upwards of 72% of all human trafficking victims in the U.S. are immigrants, many of which are transported across the border between the U.S. and Mexico. With the current status of the border, many girls, some as young as 14, are abducted prior to their arrival at the border then smuggled across to perform sex acts at a price. Approximately 60% of children who enter the U.S. illegally and unaccompanied are caught by cartel members and used in the production of child pornography.

In terms of the legislative process, the issues of illegal immigration and human trafficking are generally dealt with separately to pass bipartisan legislation more easily. The recently passed version of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act grants unaccompanied minors “special accommodations, such as expedited processing and benefits.” Unfortunately, these opportunities provided to unaccompanied minors incentivize minors to cross the border, ultimately creating minimal restrictions and increased opportunities for cartels to seize these children. To effectively address human trafficking in the U.S., we must also take measures to address rampant illegal border crossings, especially when unaccompanied minors are involved.

4. God Cares Deeply about Those Trapped in Slavery

In “Sound of Freedom,” Tim Ballard’s character successfully catches a pedophile attempting to traffic a child in a sting operation. The film’s representation of these real-world scenarios rightfully creates a stomach-churning reaction. Witnessing the cruelty of humanity in this way draws us to John 3:19: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” It’s a verse that naturally comes to mind when confronted with the evil of child exploitation. In this industry that so overtly disregards the value of human life — especially that of a child — let us remember that they reside in the darkness. For our fight is not against earthly foes, but it is “against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). That is why we should make every effort to administer justice to those in need and to deliver them from the wickedness of this fallen world (Psalm 82:3-4).

Human trafficking of those of any age is an assault on the human dignity of women and men and girls and boys made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We are right to be grieved by news of human trafficking and to seek justice for those who are oppressed (Isaiah 1:17).

5. You Can Be a Part of the Solution

If you feel a burden to make a difference on behalf of victims of human trafficking, a first step you can take is learning more about what the current challenges are. Then pray about what God might be calling you to do in your daily life. That may be donating to an organization that fights human trafficking, researching your states’ anti-trafficking laws and encouraging local leaders to make them stronger if needed, or praying with your small group from church.

For more on what you can do to fight trafficking, visit the National Center on Sexual Exploitation’s resources page. It includes action steps like how you can report suspected trafficking, how to upload images of your hotel room to a national database, and more.

Elected representatives at the state or federal level will often not prioritize an issue unless they think that their constituents are prioritizing it. Sharing information about human trafficking on social media, encouraging friends to see the “Sound of Freedom” movie, and telling your representatives you want to see more action done on fight human trafficking can all go a long way towards calling attention to human trafficking.

A quote often attributed to Mother Teresa reminds us, “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” We all can play a part in building momentum to address this evil.

AUTHORS

Arielle Del Turco 

Arielle Del Turco is Director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, and co-author of “Heroic Faith: Hope Amid Global Persecution.”

Alaina Cothran

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

5 Reasons You Must See ‘Sound of Freedom’

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UPDATE: Statement by President Donald J. Trump after watching Sound of Freedom.

I really didn’t want to see this movie. Does anyone want to see a movie about horrific crimes against children and the systems that support or fail to stop child sex trafficking? But I felt an obligation to support “Sound of Freedom.” And I was happy to hear the buzz in the conservative media sphere. “Sound of Freedom” was making noise in all the right places.

So I bought my tickets online and told myself that I had at least done my duty to financially support this worthy cause. My seat was sold, and if it went unfilled, the movie theater would still make money. Despite my best efforts to be somewhere else, I found myself in the seat on July 4.

I still don’t quite understand how I left the theater feeling hopeful. I had expected to feel hopeless and disgusted after watching a movie about child sex trafficking. And there were certainly moments of those feelings during the course of the movie. But the power of art to move the human heart is very real, if hard to describe, even after experiencing it.

It’s also hard to describe a movie without spoiling the plot for others. Here are five impressions this movie left on me, and I hope they inspire you to see the movie.

1. “God’s children are not for sale.”

This is the motivation for the main character to move beyond the soul crushing work of tracking organized pedophile networks to rescuing their victims. “Sound of Freedom” made me reflect, once again, on the work we ask others to do in our name: policing, soldiering, guarding. It is hard work, mostly done by men, who lay down their lives to protect and serve others. We ask them to deal with many of the things we do not want to face. Many do this work because of a higher calling, one that needs our support in prayer.

2. “I feel like she’s my daughter.”

Mrs. Tim Ballard texts this message to her husband while he is away searching for a victim. Her love and support for him and his work is beautifully communicated in this movie. She is also asked to bear part of the burden her husband shoulders on our behalf. She represents a much larger group of people who deserve our gratitude and our prayers.

3. “I was that darkness.”

A man contemplates his role as a consumer in the adult sex industry. His redemption from direct involvement is by the grace of God. But this character made me think about what I could or should be doing to address this grave injustice against women and men, girls and boys. At a minimum, opposing the legalization of “sex work” would be a start. Removing pornography and pornographic content from school libraries and curricula is also imperative.

4. “You’re on your own, Tim.”

Government redress of grievances is limited. Tim Ballard, the main character, had to operate on his own to follow the call to protect God’s children. But as Christians we have an obligation to prove that Tim is not alone. Each of us is called to combat the sex industry, whether through promoting organizations like Covenant Eyes that guard against pornography, by speaking out against endeavors to normalize pedophilia, or simply by living a life that upholds the dignity of every male and every female as a human being — not objects for exploitation.

5. “Could you sleep if your child’s bed was empty?”

The plea of a father for his trafficked daughter. This theme was the main reason for my initial reluctance to see the film. And it was one of the reasons why, if I had to see it, I would see it in a theater. Hearing a question like that asked in a movie theater for me is very different from hearing it asked in my living room, with my own children’s beds right upstairs.

There are some movies to see and “leave” at the theater rather than experience them at home. But this movie is one to share with others, at a theater or at your church, or even in your home. While it is not for young children, this movie is a remarkable work of art about a horrific topic. I’m grateful to Angel Studios for distributing the movie, and I encourage you to see it. I am glad I did.

AUTHOR

Meg Kilgannon

Meg Kilgannon is Senior Fellow for Education Studies at Family Research Council.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2023 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Biden’s Border Chaos Fuels Child Trafficking

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What is happening along our international borders today is not just about illegal immigration or drug smuggling. It’s also about the rapid increase in human trafficking and modern-day slavery, which is flourishing with the chaos that open borders facilitate.

With a record number of unaccompanied minors crossing into the U.S., it has become increasingly difficult to ensure they are leaving government care and going into safe, financially secure situations with people who will care for them. This disorder sets the stage for unaccountability and abuse of the system.

It is not uncommon that when Border Patrol agents and law enforcement officers come across unaccompanied minors, they find them with a phone number and name attached to them. Most times, the minor does not know and has never met the person that they are supposed to be handed over to. Recent investigations are revealing the truth of what happens to many of these most vulnerable children.

They are being exploited, abused, and trafficked.

Unaccompanied minors go into the Unaccompanied Children (UC) Program managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (OOR) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), an operational division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Once children enter OOR care, they are put in contact with their parents, guardians, or relatives, if known, and the process of finding a sponsor begins.

As of April 17, 2023, there are approximately 7,380 unaccompanied children in HHS care. The average length of time an unaccompanied child remains in ORR’s care is 25 days.

Tara Lee Rodas revealed in an interview that often, sponsors are typically not citizens, permanent residents, nor do they have a legal status in the U.S.

Minors are coming forward revealing their abuse. One young female explained that her sponsor was forcing her to engage in sexual acts for money. Antonio Diaz Mendez, a 14-year-old, claimed that he had to earn money to repay his debts and was working long shifts in a warehouse. He hadn’t seen his sponsor in months.

Due to the total chaos associated with processing over 6,000 illegal aliens each day, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents simply do not have time to conduct thorough investigative interviews to develop the articulable suspicion of trafficking, or even assess a claimed family relationship with co-travelers in any meaningful way. In all but the most egregious events, agents are forced to accept the information being provided at face value.

It is also important to note that many victims of trafficking do not know they are being trafficked when they initially enter the country illegally. They are often still under the belief that the smuggler is just providing a service to get them into the U.S. under the radar. They don’t find out the truth until it is too late.

Under prior administrations, as the border security environment was constantly improving and illegal immigration was slowing down dramatically, agents had more time to conduct in-depth interviews and identify inconsistencies in claimed family members’ stories. Agents identified countless cases where they were able to get a child or adult to admit they were not related. We will never know for sure how many children were rescued before they were victimized further.

Chaos provides cover for all types of criminal activity. As a direct result of the catch-and-release polices implemented by the Biden administration, our international border with Mexico and our immigration process for unaccompanied alien children have devolved into total chaos. Chaos that is ripe for exploitation by human traffickers.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Deterrence policies and programs work. USBP has countless examples to show that if you simply enforce the law, hold people accountable and avoid releasing aliens into the U.S. until after a judge has adjudicated their case, cross border illegal entries dramatically decrease. This immediately increases the time that agents can investigate and mitigate more sophisticated criminal schemes like narcotics smuggling and human trafficking.

Some children are fortunate to make it out of these situations by running away and seeking help, or due to the diligent efforts of citizens who are paying attention—citizens like Jallyn Sualog, who was removed from her position at HHS after raising concerns over the phenomenon.

Tragically, there are likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children who will be enslaved to labor and sex work for most of their lives.

A safe and secure border will help ensure children are less likely to be put in harm’s way and support a system that can more effectively place them in proper homes. Getting there will require bipartisan efforts to regain operational control of the border.

Once that is underway, substantial reform can be enacted to hold HHS more accountable to the children they are responsible for.

In the U.S., almost no group is more vulnerable to falling victim than children migrants who have no legal guardian to ensure their safety.

We must work toward restricting human trafficking by securing and maintaining our borders. Customs and Border Protection personnel should be given every tool at their disposal to intercept and stop human trafficking efforts, both at and between ports of entry.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

AUTHOR

SELENE RODRIGUEZ

Selene Rodriguez is the Assistant Director of Federal Affairs at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. She served as an Intelligence Specialist in the U.S. Marine Corps and is completing her MA in Political Science at Texas State University.

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VIDEO: What is Human Trafficking?

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HUMAN TRAFFICKING HAS TRULY BECOME A GLOBAL THREAT to vulnerable men, women, and children worldwide. It is an injustice that affects millions of people every year on every continent and at all socioeconomic levels. Human trafficking is a highly-organized and lucrative business, generating 150 billion USD per year, 99 billion of which is generated by sex trafficking within the prostitution industry.

The latest global estimate according to the International Labor Organization (the United Nations agency that deals with global labor issues), calculates that nearly 21 million people are victims of human trafficking worldwide. Roughly 4.5 million of those victims are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The most significant number of victims are said to come from Asia and the Pacific region, although human trafficking in Africa continues to grow when compared to its 2005 estimates. The International Labor Organization also estimates that 55 percent of all trafficking victims and 98 percent of sex trafficking victims are women and girls. That is why sex trafficking is often considered a “gender” crime and why Exodus Cry focuses its intervention largely on women and girls.

Defining human trafficking

The most widely accepted definition of human trafficking comes from the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, otherwise known as the Palermo Protocols. Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2000 and accepted by over 150 countries, the Palermo Protocols defines human trafficking as:

“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

Exploitation is at the heart of human trafficking. In the case of sex trafficking, exploitation implies the forced prostitution or sexual abuses of vulnerable men, women, and children. The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) declares it a crime to coerce, force, or mislead men, women, and children into sex slavery, whether those efforts to coerce are subtle or overt. However, if a victim is a minor (under 18), it is a considered a crime regardless if there is evidence of force, fraud, or coercion.

Victims are trafficked across both national and international borders, infiltrating nearly every part of the world, according to one World Health Organization report. The global scale of the problem is attributed to the various roles nations play in the exploitation of the victims, whether that be recruiting, harboring, transporting, or acting as destinations for victims. One UN report estimates that trafficking victims represent over 130 different nationalities and are present in almost 120 countries. While the problem is clearly of global scale, with some 600,000 to 800,000 victims trafficked across international borders each year, most human trafficking surprisingly still occurs within national borders.

The effects of human trafficking on victims

HUMAN TRAFFICKING HAS A DIRECT EFFECT ON THE PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELL-BEING OF VICTIMS. During the initial trafficking, victims are coerced and deceived usually through the exploitation of their current circumstances, as most victims have a history of abuse and are already living in precarious circumstances.

Once enslaved, victims typically are forced into unsanitary and stressful living conditions and receive little to no healthcare or basic services. Their movement is often restricted, their personal documentation withheld, and most experience significant physical, emotional, sexual, and psychological violence. Escaping from slavery is extremely difficult and dangerous, putting the victim at great personal risk. If rescued, integration back into society is incredibly difficult because of the shame, stigma, threat of retribution, and trauma experienced during enslavement.

Global efforts to combat human trafficking

There are several international organizations fighting human trafficking at the global level. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime combats human trafficking worldwide through promoting policies that incriminate traffickers and protect victims. The UN agency also produces tools and publications to help train law enforcers and raise awareness of this injustice worldwide.

Additionally, many governments are taking action to protect potential victims from trafficking predators. The United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was established by the US Department of State and has been highly influential in protecting potential victims worldwide. The TVPA defines, mandates, and funds United States’ anti-trafficking efforts, including producing the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, which is the most comprehensive resource of governmental, anti-human trafficking efforts in the world. The United States’ Officer to Combat and Monitor Trafficking in Persons is also combating human trafficking worldwide through three avenues—prevention, protection, and prosecution—which includes activities to raise awareness, identify victims, enforce appropriate laws, and convict traffickers.

However, perhaps some of the greatest work being done to combat human trafficking is performed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These anti-trafficking groups are working hard to prevent human trafficking, protect vulnerable populations, lobby for policy reformation, and even rehabilitate victims both at local and global levels. Exodus Cry is an active part of this global community of abolitionists and involved in these key areas of intervention.

How you can help combat human trafficking

You can join us in our fight to stop human trafficking and end modern-day sex slavery through engaging in any of our three areas of action—shifting culture, changing laws, and reaching out.

Through committing to praying for victims, raising awareness, advocating for policy reform, and donating to organizations like Exodus Cry who are combating this injustice, you are playing a direct part in ending slavery today.

Join the movement. Sign the pledge. Become an Abolitionist.

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