The Department of Homeland Security says the two individuals shot by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday were a gang member and “his prostitute.”
The statement was a direct response to ABC 17 News, which shared a CNN article on the shooting to X with a caption saying federal agents “left a married couple wounded in Portland.”
“The two criminal illegal aliens who attacked Border Patrol in Portland are a gang member and his prostitute, NOT an innocent ‘married couple,’” DHS said.
The two criminal illegal aliens who attacked Border Patrol in Portland are a gang member and his prostitute NOT an innocent “married couple.”
The driver of the vehicle, Luis David Nico Moncada is a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and suspected Tren de Aragua GANG MEMBER.…
The CNN article ABC 17 shared did not the pair’s immigration status, though other details about the couple were not reported at the time.
DHS identified the driver as Luis David Nico Moncada, a Venezuelan national and suspected member of Tren de Aragua, which the State Department has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Nico Moncada entered the U.S. in 2022 and was released into the country during the Biden administration, according to DHS. He has since been arrested for DUI and unauthorized use of a vehicle and has a final order of removal.
DHS identified the woman as Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, also allegedly associated with Tren de Aragua. She entered the U.S. in 2023 and was released during the Biden administration. She “played an active role in the Tren de Aragua prostitution ring,” DHS said, and was involved in a prior Portland shooting.
Local police said Thursday they responded to a call for help from Nico Moncada — unidentified at the time — and treated both his and Zambrano-Contreras’ gunshot wounds.
The shooting came two days after a woman died while evading arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis.
Portland City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney said Thursday afternoon that both individuals were alive to her knowledge, while Mayor Keith Wilson called for a halt to federal operations in the city, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Two-Shot-By-Border-Patrol.jpg352640The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2026-01-09 15:11:502026-01-11 15:02:38Feds Say Two Shot By Border Patrol In Portland Were Gang Member And His Prostitute
Florida and federal authorities have delivered a powerful blow against child predators, arresting nearly 50 pedophiles in a six-day undercover operation targeting online exploitation. Seven of those arrested are under Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment, paving the way for federal custody and potential deportation proceedings.
The operation, described in a press release as yielding the “highest number of arrests ever made during this annual joint effort,” underscores what Florida officials call their unwavering commitment to protecting children from abuse. Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) emphasized the state’s resolve, stating, “I know the state attorney here is going to be doing the Lord’s work to make sure that these people go away for absolutely as long as possible.” Concerning “those that shouldn’t have even been in this country,” he added, “they’ll go back where they came from after they’ve served their time.” The seven on hold reportedly “traveled from Jamaica, El Salvador, Dubai, and India to the state of Florida with the intention to prey on children.”
The sting resulted in 153 charges, including 34 for “Traveling to Meet a Minor for Illegal Sexual Conduct,” five for “Human Trafficking,” 48 for “Using a Computer to Solicit a Child for Sexual Conduct,” and 14 for “Transmitting Material Harmful to a Minor,” among others. Uthmeier was unequivocal in his stance: “To go after young kids, there is no defense, there is no justification, there is no excuse.” He reaffirmed the operation’s ongoing nature, declaring, “It will not happen. It cannot happen in Florida, and we will work every day to make sure that we are getting every single one of these guys off the streets. When I took the oath of office six months ago, I told my team [that] going after child predators is priority one. We’ve got about 1,000 priorities, but it’s priority one.”
A significant focus of the operation was the social media platform Snapchat, where predators used various online chat and gaming platforms to target minors — who were, in this case, undercover officers. The press release highlighted the attorney general office’s lawsuit against Snapchat, filed in April, for “knowingly and willingly violating” Florida law, including protections under HB3 and the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. The lawsuit accuses Snapchat of misleading parents about the platform’s risks to children.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods praised the operation’s success while sounding a sobering note. “My office routinely conducts these types of operations. With each operation, we catch more and more. The number of offenders only goes up.” He urged parents to monitor their children’s online activity, adding, “Parents, we will never arrest every single one of them. You have to know what your child is doing online, and children have to know what dangers are lurking online. As a Sheriff and as a father, I understand the anger and disgust a parent has towards these types of individuals. I assure you that we will continue to attack this plague head on.”
State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit Bill Gladson lauded the operation’s impact, stating, “I had the privilege of being able to see this operation firsthand, and it was nothing short of remarkable. Sheriff Woods and his deputies did an outstanding job catching and removing 40 predators from the Central Florida community. A special thank you to Attorney General James Uthmeier and the Office of Statewide Prosecution for their commitment to keeping our community safe.”
Joseph Backholm, Family Research Council’s senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement, commended the successful operation in a comment to The Washington Stand. “It’s wonderful that Florida and other law enforcement agencies around the country are dealing with this seriously,” he said. However, Backholm used this as an opportunity to explain how, “if we really want it to stop it, we have to be honest about where it’s coming from.”
As he explained, “The problem of human trafficking begins where all sin begins, with pride. Once you decide you are more important than others, it’s not hard to decide that other people should serve your needs. Human trafficking and sexual exploitation are the worst examples of this, but far from the only examples.” Backholm emphasized, “We either want virtue, or we don’t.”
Ultimately, he continued, “We live in a confused moment where we celebrate sexual liberty and decry the results of sexual liberty. People are told to do what ‘makes you happy,’ and then they’re told to stop doing what makes them happy. The right answer, of course, is to do what you were created for, and you will find happiness along the way.” And yet, Backholm argued that “most of the time, doing what you were created for requires not doing the thing that offers immediate pleasure.”
“[W]e want to arrest predators,” Backholm concluded, “but we’re going to continue create more predators if we don’t rethink the path to happiness and stop pretending that evil,” in any form, “is good.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2025-08-08 05:44:362025-08-08 05:45:35Florida’s Crackdown on Child Predators Arrests Nearly 50 Pedophiles in Undercover Operation
It was all Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) could do to contain his anger during the July 16 hearing testimony describing how federal officials worked with 15 U.N. agencies and an estimated 230 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during the Biden administration in spending $6 billion in federal grants to aid illegal immigrants.
Higgins’s anger was focused especially on one heart-breaking fact — Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials have lost track of an estimated 300,000 Unaccompanied Migrant Children (UMCs) they turned over, with the help of the NGOs, to largely unvetted sponsors, many of whom experts say were linked to Mexican drug cartel sex and forced labor trafficking.
“It was a pipeline, man, we set up a pipeline of tender-age children into sex trafficking and slave labor,” Higgins finally exclaimed, fists clutched near his chest.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to find all of these children with the same controversial raids of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in which agents detain illegal immigrants with criminal records for deportation and often also find lost UMCs.
More will be found, and the persons responsible for their abuse will be prosecuted, according to Higgins, who told the hearing that 35,000 “tender-age kids” have been rescued so far under Trump.
“Be advised that we are building our criminal case files. We’re interviewing these 35,000 kids, and we’re finding out exactly what the hell happened, how they ended up in the nightmare where they were,” Higgins warned. “And we’re rescuing more — and there’s nothing anybody can do about it. We’re going to identify these children, locate these children, rescu[e] these children. … And many of these NGO employees are going to find themselves wearing orange.”
The key factor in HHS losing so many UMCs is federal officials relied too heavily on well-funded NGOs to provide supposedly screened sponsors to accept responsibility for the children while their cases went through the immigration system, according to Ali Hooper, president of Guiding Understanding, Awareness, Research and Defense Against Trafficking (GUARD), a non-profit investigative research group.
“In interviews with cartel members incarcerated for human trafficking, they explained how weak sponsor verification incentivized trafficking by enabling cartels to control children’s placement by supplying children with exact sponsor information, allowing control over their destination,” Hooper told the committee.
“Cartels infiltrated NGOs along smuggling routes to the southwest border, using them to facilitate in the smuggling or trafficking of children. By providing children with false documents and pairing them with adults to pose as family units, they placed the children in grave danger,” Hooper continued. “According to an internal audit conducted by [HHS], approximately 70% of sponsor applications examined were found to be fraudulent, making child traceability and safety assurances nearly impossible.”
Further worsening the situation, Hooper noted, was the failure of HHS officials to follow-up on information provided by more than 65,000 calls to a telephone hotline established specifically to aid in tracking UMCs from August 2023 to January 2025.
“For example, one call was received of a child reporting ‘a lot of grown men were coming into his bedroom and touching him.’ This call was ignored by the previous administration and only acted upon after this current administration took over, leading to a welfare check, the child being rescued, and the sponsor being arrested,” Hooper said.
As an example of the abuses GUARD has documented, Hooper cited the organization known as Endeavors, a San Antonio, Texas-based NGO, including:
“Staff were hired without completed fingerprinting or thorough background checks.”
“Male staff were found inside female dorms.”
“A contractor led 150 teenage girls, minors in sexually explicit dance routines, teaching them how to ‘twerk.’ He did it twice — once at the facility’s ribbon-cutting, and again months later — before an on-site compliance officer demanded intervention.”
“Children collapsed after being subjected to massive vaccination protocols with no parental consent and no clear medical follow-up.”
“Two compliance officers discovered a female housed alone in a dorm who was over 18 years of age. Endeavors was shielding her from ICE. In other cases, UACs on the verge of turning 18 were released early to avoid ICE transfer.”
“An Endeavors employee that raised concerns about too many children being sent [to] a single address was terminated.”
“A former ICE employee with a background in case management, serving as a contracted compliance team lead was actively stonewalled from reviewing child placements.”
Hooper emphasized, however, that the problems her organization described at Endeavors were not unique to that NGO.
“To reiterate, it wasn’t just Endeavors. Across the country, NGOs became waystations — processing points in a steady flow of children. Federal contracts incentivized output over outcomes, prioritizing speed over safety. And the cartels took full advantage. They studied every gap and exploited them, sending children into a system they knew would fast-track them to cartel-controlled sponsors — without meaningful background checks, with addresses verified through postal databases, and IDs often accepted via WhatsApp or text with no facial match to the sender,” Hooper explained.
“This is how 70% of sponsor data became falsified or fraudulent. Post placement welfare checks were typically limited to two phone calls made to the sponsor’s home; if no one answered, the case was no longer followed up on. This broken process contributed to the staggering over 300,000 children who went unaccounted for,” she said.
At the outset of the hearing, Democrats offered motions directing the committee to issue subpoenas to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Biondi, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, FBI Director Kash Patel, White House border czar Tom Homan, and multiple other present and former federal officials were all defeated on party line votes.
When The Washington Stand asked spokesmen for the 13 House Democrats serving on the Homeland Security panel what each was specifically doing to find and rescue the 300,000 missing children, only one responded, Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois.
“Congresswoman Ramirez — during her committee hearing and legislation — has been clear about protecting asylum seekers, especially children. She spoke against the [Trump] administration’s executive order to end the lawful access to seek asylum at the border, introduced legislation to protect the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, and introduced legislation to protect schools from ICE raids,” insisted Jowen Ortiz Clintron, communications director for Ramirez.
“But in the reunification front, Ramirez led Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in introducing the bicameral Family Reunification Task Force Act. The legislation would authorize the Family Reunification Task Force to continue its work to reunite the thousands of families torn apart by Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy that inhumanely separated children from their parents and prevent any further separation,” he said.
Among the Democrats not responding were Ranking Member Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Eric Swalwell of California, Dan Goldman of New York, and LaMonica McIver of New Jersey. McIver was recently charged with three counts of impeding and interfering with federal officers by the Department of Justice for her involvement in physical assaults on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at a New Jersey detention center.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2025-07-21 10:20:122025-07-21 10:20:12House Exposes HHS Role in Child Sex Trafficking; Dems Have Little to Say on Lost Kids
Florida’s “Operation Dragon Eye” was successful in rescuing 60 children who were missing, endangered, or victims of human trafficking, state officials announced Monday.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) said in a press briefing: “We are here to announce the most successful completion of the largest child rescue operation, not just in Florida history, but in the United States history.” As he went on to say, “Protecting our kids and keeping Florida the safest state to raise a family is our number one priority. Today is a result of the hard work to deliver on that promise.”
For two intense weeks, the U.S. Marshals Service, in collaboration with Florida state and local authorities, conducted a sweeping operation across Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties in the Tampa Bay area. This coordinated effort united 20 federal, state, and local agencies, mobilizing over 100 law enforcement officers, investigators, and support personnel. The children, ranging in age from 9 to 17, were found in a variety of dire circumstances, including situations involving human trafficking, abduction, and endangerment. Upon rescue, each child received immediate medical evaluations and psychological support to address the physical and emotional trauma they had endured.
U.S. Marshal William Berger revealed the operation’s dual mission: to locate and rescue vulnerable children while targeting the criminal networks responsible for their exploitation. “[E]xperience tells us,” he noted, “if the offenders are not apprehended, they will reconnect with these children.” The team arrested eight predators, charging them with heinous crimes including human trafficking, child endangerment, and drug trafficking. Bonds for these offenders ranged from no bond to a staggering $250 million.
Fox News reported that “The operation uncovered the gut-wrenching realities of sex trafficking — including several young girls who were pregnant, one of them carrying the child of her trafficker.” According to authorities, the investigation is ongoing “and additional charges may follow.”
In a statement, Uthmeier, speaking as both state attorney general and a father of three, underscored the mission’s heart. “The real heroes behind this operation are the law enforcement who built and executed this mission,” he said. “As your Attorney General and a father of three young kids, protecting children is my top priority. If you victimize children, you’re going to prison, end of story.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Mark Glass captured the operation’s profound impact. “Sixty kids saved,” he said. “That number sends the message that Florida will never be a safe place for traffickers. At FDLE, we will continue to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. And to any family still missing their child, we will never stop searching until we make sure they are brought home safely.”
Berger’s final words echoed the operation’s unprecedented scale: “[T]he successful recovery of 60 missing children, complemented with the arrest of eight individuals, including child predators, signifies the most successful missing child recovery effort in the history of the United States Marshals Service; or to my knowledge, any other similar operation held in the United States.”
According to The Child Crime Prevention and Safety Center, roughly 840,000 U.S. children are reported missing annually. And Florida, with its large population and major transportation hubs, has long been a haven for traffickers seeking to exploit vulnerable populations. As such, while “Operation Dragon Eye” marks a significant triumph, authorities warn that human trafficking remains a pervasive threat. In 2024 alone, Florida received over 1,830 trafficking signals, leading to the identification of 1,874 victims, many of them minors lured through manipulation or online platforms, as reported by Fox.
In response, Florida has intensified its efforts. Governor Ron DeSantis (R) recently allocated $4.9 million to expand emergency shelter beds and staff support for trafficking victims, alongside $900,000 in grant funding for the FDLE. As DeSantis previously affirmed, “Florida is being proactive about stopping human trafficking.”
Mary Szoch, director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, praised the operation’s monumental success in a statement to The Washington Stand. “Attorney General James Uthmeier should be commended for his commitment to upholding the dignity of every human being,” she said. “The rescue of these 60 trafficked children is a huge accomplishment for the state of Florida.”
Szoch concluded with a call to action: “Every single person’s life matters, and no one should be exploited as if he or she was an object. We should all continue to pray for the well-being of these 60 children, and we should thank God for the work they are doing in Florida to uphold the sanctity of life in all of its stages.”
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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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2025-06-25 15:25:392025-06-25 15:37:06Historic U.S. Child Rescue: 60 Missing, Trafficked Children Saved in Florida Operation
At the Republican National Lawyers Association’s annual policy conference on Friday, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan recounted the recent rescue of a 14-year-old girl who had been trafficked and was found pregnant.
“We just found one two days ago. A 14-year-old little girl. Living with two adult males. Who trafficked her,” he said.
This is heartbreaking. Tom Homan describes a child who was just rescued from a HORRIFIC situation:
“We just found one two days ago. A 14-year-old little girl. Living with two adult males. Who trafficked her.”
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 16, 2025
“We found her, she’s pregnant. From trafficking being forced into prostitution. 14 years old. We are taking care of her. Both physically and mentally.”
Homan also addressed misconceptions about immigration enforcement, saying, “Despite what the media says, we are not heartless. We care about these kids. I am a father.”
Homan said he’s committed to combating human trafficking. “That shit is happening every day. We are going to put an end to it. Everything we can do.”
The Department of Homeland Security reports a 93% drop in daily encounters, a 95% reduction in gotaways — those who sneak in undetected and pose the greatest threat to public safety — and an astonishing 99.99% decrease in illegal migrant crossings. These numbers represent a complete reversal from the Biden administration’s record-setting failure, which saw nearly 11 million encounters over four years, including record levels of deadly fentanyl pouring across the southern border.
The Trump administration’s new enforcement push has already led to the arrests of over 151,000 illegal aliens and the deportation of more than 135,000 — including hundreds of violent gang members from MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and 18th Street. In just four days, Operation Tidal Wave — a sweeping, multi-agency law enforcement initiative — netted 780 criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and drug traffickers.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2025-05-18 11:03:082025-05-19 05:42:15Tom Homan On Trafficked 14-Year-Old Girl Found Pregnant: ‘This Sh*t Is Happening Every Day’
DALLAS, Texas – In a quiet diner at 11 a.m., the lead investigator of the Shepherd’s Watch Foundation (SWF), who goes by Lisa for anonymity, sits alone at a table waiting to brief the Daily Caller News Foundation on the locations she plans to take stake out.
Speaking in a low voice and glancing over her shoulder, she gives a rundown of how SWF — a nonprofit organization targeting sex trafficking — has been tracking down sex traffickingrings in Texas. Founded in 2020 by private investigators and victim advocates, Lisa told the DCNF the group collects intel on sex rings across the state, which have grown increasingly common in recent years.
“This is the deadly part of the underbelly. It’s the beast. It’s the stuff that people don’t talk about,” Lisa said.
The SWF team gathers data from sex ads on the dark web, flagging hotspots when multiple ads point to a single location. Lisa then scopes out the sites, collecting photos and any details of what goes on at the sites to hand over to law enforcement, who make arrests if the evidence holds. (Watch The Daily Caller’s Documentary, ‘Pedo Hunters’)
“The men and women that we work with are amazing. They’re the best of law enforcement officers. They’re very, very bright. They’re very analytical, they have great discernment. I love working with them,” Lisa said in response to handing over her intel and communicating with law enforcement and other officials.
Since November 2024, the foundation has handed over 36 operations to law enforcement, including assisting in roughly 10 investigations since January, according to SWF. Lisa told the DCNF that not only have all of the group’s cases been picked up and investigated by officials, but they’ve also led to arrests across Texas — including in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Collin County.
The DCNF first contacted SWF while investigating the more than 300,000 missing migrant children under the Biden-Harris administration. Whistleblowers and experts have warned that many of these children may have been trafficked into the U.S., yet updates on their whereabouts remain scarce since reports first surfaced last year.
“I think our typical [age] range in the rings is probably 14, 15. We know there’s 12- and 13-year-olds. It used to be that you’d see the minors on the sites. Occasionally we still do,” Lisa said. “When you go out and look at the sites, we have tools that tell us whether or not it’s a scam or fake ad.”
With an estimated 10 million illegal migrant encounters during the Biden-Harris administration — many along the Texas border — SWF told the DCNF they haven’t yet seen an impact from Trump’s recent immigration crackdown.According to the Texas Attorney General’s office, the state saw 1.6 million online commercial sex ads in 2020, with 223,910 believed to have involved children. In 2023, SWF tracked around 1,300 ads a day in Dallas, which rose to 1,400, then 1,500 by 2024, and as of Tuesday morning, has surpassed 1,700 daily ads.
“Well, for us, it didn’t calm down at all. Unfortunately. It’s just a never-ending cycle of clients,” Lisa said. “The demand being there is not going to help. I don’t think people realize how many people have sex addictions and how few even serve time.”
“The numbers just didn’t go down. You know what I mean? We thought maybe we’d see a decline in ads. It stayed steady. I don’t know — talk to me again in six months to see if it’s dwindled,” Lisa added.
DAY 1: Be Wary Of The Motels
Navigating traffic in Lisa’s truck, we arrive at the first location, guided by a fellow intel contractor named Jack — a run-down motel just outside the city. Lisa vents about how often the chain pops up in her investigations, warning we may never look at it the same way.
At the location, Lisa circles the lot, scanning rooms while on the phone with Jack, whose name is being withheld due to safety precautious as investigations are ongoing. A security guard patrols the perimeter, but Lisa warns he may be on the traffickers’ payroll. Lisa parks the car outside the main lot of the hotel, where the ads Jack traced point to an interior room.
Prices for the girls typically vary depending on the ad. However, Jack notes that the girls at this location are on “the lower end of pricing.” The ad, which began running six days earlier, claims there are five girls in the room, all allegedly 23 years old, Jack says.
“They’re $100 for 15 minutes,” Jack said. “$150 for 30 [minutes], and they do offer … three girls for $200 for 30 minutes. Even if you wanted two girls. They’re going to charge you $200 for 30 minutes, they said.”
Girls of all races are part of the rings, but Lisa notes an increase in Central and South American girls, as well as Cubans being trafficked from Florida.
After a few minutes, the guard seems to be watching Lisa’s car while on a “smoke break.” She describes the layout to Jack, noting the room’s position is ideal for traffickers but dangerous for her — no clean escape route. Women are typically placed in top-floor rooms, while handlers stay on the bottom floor.
“[The handlers are] on the first floor so they can escape,” Jack tells the DCNF.
Lisa gathers photos of the security guard, the perimeter of the hotel and the location of the room number listed in the ads — sending everything over to law enforcement later on.
With Lisa concerned about safety and no movement in or out of the rooms, we head to a second location, about 15 minutes away — a small hotel. Lisa’s been here before.
Pulling into the lot next to the front lobby, Lisa parks behind a small tree to provide some cover. Almost instantly, a man in his late 20s or early 30s wearing a checkered button-down becomes visible, standing outside and watching the entrance.
“So, over here, at this hotel — okay, see this guy on the corner? That’s a spotter. There’s another spotter,” Lisa says, pointing to another man on the outer right corner.
“This is what they do all day … Spotters come and go. They’re not going to like us being here, so just be ready for that,” she adds.Lisa directs us on when to take photos and video, warning that the open motel windows likely conceal women — and weapons.
“There’s no reason for those windows to be open,” Lisa said, noting the temperature outside was mildly cool with a slight breeze. “There’s A/C and heating. Always assume someone inside is armed. They’re positioned to see the whole parking lot and all three entrances.”
WATCH:
SWF sent images and video of the two suspected spotters, along with ads indicating a sex ring was suspected to be operating at the hotel, to law enforcement for a background check. The DCNF shared some of its photos and videos with SWF, which were later forwarded to law enforcement.
On day two, Lisa told the DCNF that law enforcement relayed that the men were not in the U.S. system or Border Patrol records, suggesting they may have illegally crossed into the country. The site is now under law enforcement investigation.
“It’s big,” Lisa hinted.
DAY 2: Sneaking Out On Lunch Breaks
Lisa picks us up from another diner mid-afternoon, saying today’s focus is on massage parlors suspected of trafficking. She explains the late start — most “customers” sneak out on lunch breaks.
“The most active time is between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Not just for massage parlors, but apartments, motels, hotels,” Lisa says. “There’s also a safety factor. If you’re a customer, you don’t want to get jumped.”
“Some of these ads are fake. It’s about exploitation,” she continues. “If you’re walking in with $200, $300 cash, you’re worried about getting robbed — so some guys wait until late at night.”
All the suspected massage parlors look nearly identical and are within ten minutes of each other. Along with flagged ads, Lisa points out common red flags: padlocked doors, excessive security cameras, peep holes on the door between the lobby and back rooms — and no gift cards.
The gift card question, Lisa says, is a way to test legitimacy. Most normal businesses offer them — sex parlors often don’t. At each stop, Lisa walks in asking for gift cards while taking photos and video for law enforcement.
“When we walk in, we’re looking for anyone in distress,” Lisa says. “Does anyone look held against their will, victimized? I’m looking for minors, hands down. Any first-glance signs I can report.”
At one stop, we sit in the car as men trickle in and out every 10–15 minutes. Before we enter, a man in medical scrubs — likely a doctor — walks out, glancing around before getting into his BMW and driving off.
“How do you solve this?” Lisa asks. “It has to be a multi-pronged approach. It’s not just law enforcement. What about the licensing board that grants them the right to operate?”
“Let’s talk about the EDC, the economic development board that decides what businesses go in where. What about the retail property manager? Why aren’t all these entities involved?” she says. “I want to empower them — we can make a difference.”
One of our final stops is an alleged massage business tucked between a dentistry and a Montessori school. It’s not the first time Lisa has seen a sex business this close to kids.
“I’m so over this,” Lisa said in response to seeing the proximity of the massage parlor to the school.
As we leave, we pass an empty playground, watching a mother walk her child to the car. Just feet away, behind a locked door, a very different reality is unfolding — one Lisa says too many people have learned to ignore.
The DCNF shared some of its photos and videos with SWF, which were later forwarded to law enforcement.
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http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2025-04-16 15:27:302025-04-16 15:47:16EXCLUSIVE: The Border Is Quiet, But Sex Traffickers Are Thriving — And One Group Is Fighting To Stop Them
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.
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.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-12-09 14:24:222024-12-09 14:26:33Biden Program May Have Helped Sex Traffickers ‘Exploit Women and Girls’: Congressional Report
Experts are sounding the alarm on the fact that the sex trafficking of minors has more than tripled under the Biden-Harris administration. “Biden’s border policies have led to an explosion in the forced prostitution of migrants in the U.S.,” wrote The Free Press’s investigative reporter Madeleine Rowley. In fact, added an informant from the nonprofit Shepherd’s Watch, “Nearly all … sex-trafficking rings now are migrant girls,” with a notable explosion of online sex-trafficking ads of women “within the first three months of the border being open.”
During “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” last week, Rowley explained how there’s no doubt the rise in sex trafficking “is directly tied to Biden opening the border.” Criminals are smuggling women and girls “across the border promising them a better life, promising them jobs, only to trick them and force them into prostitution after they have crossed the border.” As Family Research Council President Tony Perkins highlighted, unaccompanied “minors … are entrapped in this” by being handed off by the federal government directly “into the custody of people who are going to abuse them and exploit them.”
According to Rowley’s research, there were roughly 137,000 unaccompanied minors that crossed the border in 2023 alone. “[T]he government is tasked with vetting the sponsors that these children are released to,” she said. While “a lot of the times they’re released to … people that they know,” they’re often “released to what they call ‘category ‘three sponsors’ or ‘unrelated sponsors,’” many of whom are unvetted or the ones doing the trafficking.
It’s “just absolutely shocking and heartbreaking that our government is facilitating the exploitation of women and children,” Perkins sighed. But as guest host Jody Hice explained on Friday’s episode of “Washington Watch,” “This story certainly has been going on for years,” which only makes it that much more shocking as “new details continue to emerge that paint an absolutely heartbreaking picture of the abuse that is taking place.”
“Within the last week,” Breitbart reported, “158 unaccompanied migrant children have been sent across the Rio Grande into the small town of Eagle Pass.” These children range between the ages of five and 17 years old. According to Tara Rodas, a whistleblower who formerly worked for the Department of Health and Human Services, this crisis is not merely being allowed by the government but is being fueled by the government. “[W]hat we now know,” said Rodas, is that this “is government sponsored, taxpayer-funded child trafficking.”
“I can assure you,” she stated, “I never thought I’d be saying that.” Hice agreed, “It’s just absolutely unthinkable.” He went on to note how if it were not for whistleblowers, such as Rodas, exposing these realities, “[W]e would not even be aware of what’s been going on.” Providing further details, Rodas explained how “at the beginning of 2021, the Biden-Harris administration made a call to all federal employees,” asking them to help with the crisis of unaccompanied minors crossing the border. Rodas volunteered to offer a hand.
“I thought I was going to be coloring and doing puzzles with children,” she said. “I’m a Spanish speaker, and I thought I could be that person who would be there to greet the children and, … find out what are their plans about coming to America and living the American dream.” However, “it didn’t take very long for those illusions to evaporate,” Rodas explained, because the “children began to tell us the truth.” What those kids revealed is that many of them did not know who they were being sent to. It became clear, as Rodas described, that they were “lured here under the promise that they’re going to” get rich, only to get thrown into “modern day slavery.”
Through her first-hand experience with these children, Rodas detailed how they had “reported being sexually abused [and] being pimped out by their sponsors” — some of which “are actually gang members” from “violent criminal organizations.” It’s nothing short of “horrific,” she sighed, especially considering that taxpayer dollars are going into “vulnerable children … being shipped to known bad actors.” It’s as if we’ve become “the FedEx of children from the border to traffickers,” she lamented.
“[I]t’s a shocking story,” Rodas contended, and “people need to know about” it. “This is not humanitarian. This isn’t helping the children. They’re in slavery.” And this is why it’s appropriate to call it “government sponsored, taxpayer funded child trafficking,” Hice added, arguing how it explains how “such a horrifying thing has now become a partisan issue.” Rodas agreed, noting that “everybody should want to protect and defend children.”
Ultimately, Rodas argued, “[I]f you’re not in the box of protect and defend children … that puts you outside of all political realms.” This crisis is not a matter of red and blue, she insisted, but “we’re talking about good versus evil.” The problem is that “failed policies and policy makers” are at the heart of this “crisis because they rolled back the ability for people to come across the border,” she described. “They made it simple so that vetting is not being done. And then they opened the floodgates for these children to come across” and be taken to criminals.
It’s “unbelievable,” Hice groaned. In order to stop this crisis from getting worse, Rodas urged, “We need people who are going to put sane policies in place. We need to rescue children, and we need to seriously prosecute criminals.” And we also need people, Hice concluded, who are willing to continue putting a “spotlight on this and … deal with it courageously.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-10-22 13:08:422024-10-22 13:14:47The Government Has Become the ‘FedEx of Children from the Border to Traffickers’: Expert
Jeffrey Epstein and his ongoing ability to orchestrate a massive scheme to facilitate and breed the corruption of powerful individuals to sexually exploit others is finally surfacing to the public eye, trickling through the no longer impenetrable gates of unattainable elite society.
It is right and just for our society to demand accountability and transparency about those who sexually abused people through Jeffrey Epstein’s networks. At the same time, while the media and public are in a frenzy about recent releases of names associated with Epstein, the same attention and care is not given to others – women, children, and men – being currently exploited in less high-profile cases.
We, as an everyday nation, are experiencing the absolute power of corruption with the free-flowing flood of over 400,000 youth who go missing in America every year, over 80,000 unaccompanied minors at our nation’s borders, and the countless number of children who are groomed and exploited online all while within their own home. All of this in the Land of the Free. Many of these innocent children are far removed from the interest of high-profile media or promised power of freedom as they tragically are delivered into the atrocities of human sex trafficking.
Big Tech is an exponential digital version of all the same patterns of networks of those with power, age, and privilege grooming and exploiting the innocent, just as we see in the Epstein case. Predators don’t only network and collaborate to abuse on private jets or private islands, they can do so from the comfort of their own homes, laptops, or phones.
Alas the documents. The names. The media coverage. As it should be.
It is crucial that we take action and care just as much about what is happening every moment in every neighborhood as it is about exposing those that chose perversion and abuse of their positions of power. What a devastation to the human race. Imagine where the world would be if human dignity is what everyone protected and fought for, and anything less was unacceptable to all.
EDITORS NOTE: This NCOSE column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00National Center on Sexual Exploitationhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNational Center on Sexual Exploitation2024-01-14 14:06:122024-01-14 14:09:30Society-wide Corruption in Epstein Case is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
One of the many obstacles to solving the southern border crisis is the lack of cooperation from the Democrats, according to Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). In December, Marshall, who serves on four Senate committees, discussed on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” how the president’s party had been focused on Ukraine funding rather than the border, putting progress at a complete standstill. However, as the threat to the southern border continues to swell, more Democrats are changing their stance on the issue.
Sam Joshi, the Democrat mayor of Edison, New Jersey, said migrants are “not welcome” in his town. Although he received backlash, the mayor stood his ground. “They’re illegal, and they belong on the other side of the border. We don’t want them in Edison, period,” he said. And recent polls indicate this opinion is growing — among unlikely groups.
A January 5 poll conducted by YouGov and CBS News revealed 60% of white people, 50% of black people, and 47% of Hispanics oppose settling illegal immigrants locally. And although the Democrats surveyed largely support local housing for the undocumented migrants, 62% of independents oppose it.
Separate data collected by Rasmussen Reports showed 65% of “likely U.S. voters” consider the immigration crisis as an “invasion” with an additional 43% who strongly view that statement as “very accurate.” Only 31% disagree, and another 15% felt that statement was completely inaccurate.
On Monday’s episode of “Washington Watch,” Representative Mark Alford (R-Mo.) shared about his experience when he joined Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and several others on a trip to the southern border last week. “We saw firsthand the chaos,” he said. “Chaos that this administration [and] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas … will not classify as a crisis.”
Instead, Alford noted, they call it “a challenge.” “This has been languishing for years,” he said, insisting that it’s not accurate to say it is simply a challenge. “Look,” he added, “this isn’t selling used cars. … [It’s] a crisis that [Mayorkas] and President Biden created.” And “with a wink and a nod … almost nine million illegal aliens” have been admitted into the nation.
Notably, most Americans welcome immigrants who enter the country legally. “Legal immigrants are part of the fabric of America,” Alford said. “But this process, this crisis, this chaos, is ripping apart America right now.” And in addition to the madness caused from having nowhere to place them or ways to treat their needs, America’s national security is under severe jeopardy, Alford observed. But he stressed that most Democrats won’t “admit” that “because they want these illegals to eventually become voters” for the Democratic Party who let them in.
Another shocking consequence of the border crisis is the correlation it has to the rise of human trafficking in America, Alford pointed out. During his visit to the border, Alford learned that “$32 million a week is going back to the cartels who are ferrying these people over.” Broken down, these trips can cost “anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000 per trip” per individual, he emphasized. Last week on “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Speaker Johnson noted the money going back to the cartels from the border crisis would total about “$1.6 billion annually.”
Alford continued, “[The migrants] don’t have that money. So, they go to work in the human sex trade” in the U.S. to “pay off their debt to these cartels. One hundred thousand children are unaccounted for in America in this process. That’s despicable.”
On top of the border crisis, “[T]here’s a lot of work yet to be done in getting … [the] spending bill addressed, all the appropriations bills across the finish line, and avoiding a potential shutdown,” guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice chimed in. But Alford mentioned the most recent text for a spending bill had no mention of border security. And as far as he and his conservative colleagues are concerned, no matter how dressed up the spending bill appears, border security is non-negotiable. Or, as he stated, “[Y]ou can put lipstick on a pig, but I’m not kissing this pig.”
Alford concluded that his only priority right now is border security. “That is my number one concern, number two concern, and number three concern right now,” he said. “Whatever it takes to secure the border.”
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2024-01-12 06:06:052024-01-12 06:09:51Congressman: Border Chaos ‘Is Ripping Apart America Right Now’
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.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2023-07-19 09:00:142023-07-19 09:05:04California Democrats Vote against Anti-Child Trafficking Bill, Then Change Course
*Gabrielle’s story is a composite story, based on common experiences of black survivors which have been expressed to NCOSE and/or documented in research.The header image for this block is a stock image, not a picture of an actual survivor.
It started with a band-aid.
Gabrielle had tripped during recess and scraped up her knee. Crying, Gabrielle limped inside to go find her Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Evans, and show her what had happened.
Ms. Evans was a kind lady. Gabrielle hoped that, when she saw her bleeding knee, she might give her a hug and a lollipop for comfort. She had seen Ms. Evans do this last week for beautiful, blonde-haired Kylie, when that little girl had fallen off the monkey bars.
But Ms. Evans simply gave Gabrielle a pat on the back, told her to “be a big girl,” and reached inside her desk for a band-aid.
Swallowing her disappointment, Gabrielle took the band-aid and struggled to put it on. She’d never put on a band-aid herself before, but she finally managed to get it to stick.
Only, it looked funny . . .
Gabrielle frowned at the band-aid for a moment, trying to figure out what was wrong.
Then she realized.
The band-aid was “skin color.” Not Gabrielle’s skin color. Kylie’s skin color.
It was that band-aid that first made Gabrielle understand that she was “different.” That the color of her skin somehow made her an outsider.
And as Gabrielle frowned at the band-aid, standing out so pale against her dark knee, she couldn’t help but wonder if the color of her skin was also the reason why Ms. Evans hadn’t given her a hug or a lollipop.
Fact: Studies show that adults tend to perceive Black girls as older and less innocent than White girls. This is known as “Adultification” and it often leads to Black girls not receiving the same level of nurturing and compassion as White girls do. It also often leads to Black girls being sexualized at an earlier age, which increases the risk that they will be sexually exploited.
Gabrielle soon realized that Kindergarten teachers weren’t the only ones who treated her differently. There were also the men. Young men, old men – so many of them seemed to leer at Gabrielle like they wanted to do something to her. Gabrielle didn’t know what that something was . . . until one day, her latest foster father made it clear.
Fact: Black children are overrepresented in the foster care system. Although they make up only 14% of children in the United States, Black children make up 23% of the foster care system. Foster children are ten times more likely to be sexually abused and Black children are sexually abused twice as much as their White counterparts in the foster care system. Statistics show that a history of sexual abuse dramatically increases a person’s chance of being exploited in prostitution.
Gabrielle carried the trauma from what her foster father did to her for years. She carried it into her first relationship, during which she felt intense fear of doing anything physical. When she told her boyfriend that she didn’t want to, he wasn’t pleased.
“I thought girls like you were always into it?” he said.
Gabrielle didn’t ask what he meant by “girls like her.” She didn’t have to. Because next, her boyfriend showed her his favorite “ebony” pornography videos, as examples of what he wanted to do with her.
Gabrielle had nightmares for weeks.
Fact: Contemporary Internet pornography sites feature grotesquely racist themes such as those depicted in the screenshots below. Pornography is perhaps the only remaining mainstream media where racism is not only permitted, it is encouraged.
After years of enduring experiences of this nature, Gabrielle eventually decided: if the men in the world were determined to see her as nothing but a Jezebel whom they could use and abuse as they pleased . . . well then, she might as well get paid for it.
And so, Gabrielle entered prostitution.
What she didn’t know was that, in the prostitution marketplace, racism would be uglier than ever.
Her grim conclusion that she “might as well get paid” for being sexually used turned out to be misplaced – for she found that she could not make as much money in prostitution as the White girls.
Gabrielle almost laughed at the cruel irony of it . . . She had supposed that in the prostitution marketplace, where all the women were degraded to mere objects, she would be on “equal footing” with other women at last. But no. Even here, she was worth less. It was somehow possible for the color of her skin to sink her even below the value of an object.
Watch Dr. Stephany Powell discuss beauty standards in the prostitution marketplace, and how black women/girls are sold for less money:
Gabrielle was barely scraping by, so when she met a pimp who promised to help her make more money, she agreed to his offer.
That was a terrible mistake.
The pimp wasn’t interested in helping Gabrielle – he was only interested in controlling and profiting from her. Not only did he not help her make more money, but he beat her when she didn’t make enough to satisfy him.
When Gabrielle pleaded for mercy, explaining that it was harder for her to make money than his other girls because she was black, he simply laughed.
“I know that,” he said, his lip curling in a derisive sneer. “Why do you think I don’t beat my White girls? They’re too valuable, I can’t mark up their faces. You on the other hand . . .”
Fact: Traffickers disproportionately target Black women and girls. It is reported that 40% of sex trafficking victims in the U.S. are Black, despite Black people making up only 13.6% of the U.S. population.
Then one day, while Gabrielle was soliciting on the streets trying to make enough money to avoid a beating, she was arrested. She would be charged with the crime of prostitution, the policeman told her.
As she sat in the police station, Gabrielle knew she ought to be afraid, but she couldn’t help but feel hope . . . Perhaps if she told the police about being under the control of an abusive pimp, they would recognize her as a victim. Perhaps they would rescue her from her situation and give her services, rather than a sentence.
Unfortunately, that didn’t end up being the case.
Gabrielle told her story – but only skeptical, unimpressed faces stared back at her.
Watch Dr. Stephany Powell explain how implicit bias can influence how black survivors are treated by law enforcement and non-profit agencies, and how NCOSE is seeking to address this with their training programs:
ACTION: Request Information about the ELEET Training Program
The Equipping Law Enforcement to End Trafficking (ELEET) training program was developed with a working group of survivors, prosecutors, and seasoned officers in order to educate law enforcement and/or prosecutors on the importance of developing a victim-centered approach during initial contact with victims of human sex trafficking while minimizing the court appearance of victims and addressing implicit bias. Request to book a training or get more information here.
Stories like Gabrielle’s are not rare. Together, adultification, implicit bias, racism and more are risk factors for experiencing sexual exploitation, and even decrease opportunities to exit. We must act together to learn about these realities ourselves, to hold entities responsible for normalizing these themes, and to better equip those who serve survivors.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00National Center on Sexual Exploitationhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNational Center on Sexual Exploitation2023-02-12 07:21:172023-02-12 07:29:24It Started With A Band-Aid: The Intersection of Racism, Adultification, and Exploitation
“My strategy was to be unseen. I became numb. Most abuse victims don’t know they are victims. We just know that this is life.” — Darlene, survivor
Darlene was 13 when she was first molested. To this day, she remembers running and hiding under the bed, desperate to disappear. “It just sort of flipped a switch in me, because I had no safe place anymore.” Fatherless, she watched her mom go from one abusive relationship to the next, until one day Darlene just stopped going to school. “That was when my world seemed to completely spiral out of control,” she admits. “[A] guy came to my neighborhood who was so jovial and so friendly to everybody. He was so magnetic is the only thing I can think of. All the kids in the neighborhood gravitated to him — and I had no idea that I was his target.”
By her 14th birthday, she was a commodity. “The first time he sold me was to a businessman,” Darlene thinks back. “He was a bouncer at an illegal gambling ring, and he’d bring me to that back alley — and he’d leave me in the car and men would use me there, over and over and over. And then when he opened the door, he said, ‘Gee, you look like hell.’ … I was beaten, gang-raped, drugged, dragged, and bruised in a sick game of dehumanization.” No one, not even her mother, stopped it. “Sometimes I was out on the streets for days at a time, sometimes weeks.” Her buyers were businessmen, city councilors, professionals, criminals.
After she’d been passed around for five years, she was sold to a man who told her, “in graphic detail how he’d forced other girls to have an abortion.” By that point, Darlene had been trafficked so long, she thought she couldn’t get pregnant. “I didn’t think it would happen,” she said. Until she did. When her abuser found out, he threatened to kill her if she tried to escape without having an abortion. “He even threatened to do it himself.” Terrified, she threw herself at his feet, begging him not to force her. He threw the phone in her lap and waited until she called and made an appointment. “In my mind, I had no choice,” she remembers.
Years have passed, but there are thousands of other Darlenes trapped in horror stories like hers. This very second, there are men online, in malls, walking through neighborhoods, luring girls away from unhappy homes with one goal: to sell them and use them for sex. Like Darlene, they’ve been kicked, beaten, starved, punished, and forced to subject themselves to a level of brutality and humiliation most of us can’t comprehend. Most of these young girls end up pregnant — as many as 71% according to one report. And not just once. Multiple times. “A third of women trafficked ‘underwent numerous abortions as victims of trafficking’” — most against their will.
Now, with Roe v. Wade gone, and abortion activists frantic to protect their biggest business, the plot has become more sinister: abortion pills, through the mail, where no one has to know. The new back-alley method that gives predators like Darlene’s an even easier way to inflict harm.
Before the abortion industry invented chemical killing, there was at least a good possibility that abused and hurting girls would see an adult face to face, a nurse or health care worker in a safe place where they could tell the truth and get help. And while abortion centers like Planned Parenthood’s were notorious about covering up these nightmarish crimes, there was a better chance of teenagers breaking their silence and getting rescued — than removing all supervision and forcing them to go through this dangerous abortion process alone.
As so many doctors have warned, these are lethal drugs. The Left tells women that it’s a simple, safe, natural, and private process. What they don’t tell them is stories like Solome’s. “I had blood all over my legs and went in the tub to wash them. The cramps got so bad I couldn’t even move. I couldn’t even cry…” she testified to the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus. “I couldn’t get to my phone to dial 911 and go to the emergency room…” There was so much pain and blood, she thought she might die. “I haven’t really healed from my experience, and I don’t know if I ever will.”
Imagine the harm rapists and other predators could do if these drugs were as available as the Biden administration is demanding. Children, innocent women, and sex victims of all kinds would be in an endless cycle of violence — with no guarantee that they would survive the complications. Because the last place a serial abuser is going to rush his victims is an emergency room where the girls would have easy access to law enforcement.
And yet, President Biden, controlled by the radicals in his party, has decided to take the side of those monsters, demanding that states make it easier for everyone to get their hands on these deadly drugs. In a term that has redefined extremism, he has decided to become the president of predation. “As our nation faces another significant health care crisis, this guidance is to remind the roughly 60,000 retail pharmacies in the United States of the unique role pharmacies play in ensuring access to comprehensive reproductive health care services,” according to Health and Human Services.
This, Dr. Ingrid Skop warns, despite the fact that chemical abortions have four times as many complications as surgical abortions. The Biden administration, she explained on “Washington Watch,” took away all in-person supervision.
“They can get it delivered by mail without ever encountering a doctor. … [And] these medications work by cutting off hormonal support and then causing contractions. The further along a woman is, the more likely it is to fail. When it fails there, the woman is at risk for infection. She’s at risk for hemorrhage. And that tissue that does not pass out has to be removed surgically. Even under the prior recommendations, using it up to 10 weeks gestation, about 5-8% of the time it does fail and the woman needs surgery. But in this new world where nobody’s even checking to find out how far along she is, it’s going to fail more frequently.”
For any woman, those are inhumane odds. For a woman trapped in a life of sex abuse, it’s a death sentence. The idea that anyone — let alone the leader of the free world — would try to push this poison on innocent mothers and children is abhorrent. What he’s telling the desperate, hurting girls like Darlene is that there’s no way out. That there is no safe place. “Women who are in this situation,” she tells people now, “need healing. They need guidance, they need compassion. But they don’t need abortion.”
She should know. The night Darlene begged her captor for her baby’s life, she had a dream — of a little face, part of a hand “with those distinct stubby fingers,” part of a ribcage. Looking back, she knows it was supernatural, a window into a womb she didn’t know. She woke up, raised her arms in the air in an act of desperation, and said, “God, if you’re real, I need you to show up.” He did, hatching a plan for her to escape with the help of a social worker assigned to track her as a runaway. She faked her abortion and found her freedom.
Darlene was saved by heroes — people who valued her life and her baby’s. Girls everywhere deserve a government and a president who does the same.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Family Research Councilhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFamily Research Council2022-07-18 13:26:552022-07-18 13:27:19No Safe Space: Chemical Abortion and Trafficked Daughters
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Exodus Cryhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngExodus Cry2022-02-01 06:57:542022-02-01 07:14:58VIDEO: What is Human Trafficking?
Ever since Jeffrey Epstein’s untimely and unjust death in August 2019, survivors, advocates, and many others have been asking an important question regarding those who participated in the sexual abuse and exploitation perpetrated by Epstein:
Will justice be served?
Due to Epstein’s connections with a vast web of wealthy and influential individuals, many have worried that those involved in suspected crimes would not be pursued after his death.
We are glad to see that justice is still being pursued.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s confidante and accomplice, was arrested on Thursday, July 2, 2020. Since she was directly involved in Epstein’s affairs, this is an important development for survivors and seems to indicate that justice may yet be served to the individuals involved in these abuses despite Epstein’s death.
What Filthy Rich Got Right, Wrong About Jeffrey Epstein and His Crimes
Recently, the Netflix documentary Filthy Rich rocketed to the top of Netflix’s charts. We anticipated this with great excitement due to the fact that, although they did not get their day in court with Epstein himself, survivors would be able to share their stories and speak publicly.
The documentary portrayed and reinforced several important points: the wealth of evidence of Epstein’s trafficking and rape crimes, the fact that many men with financial means perpetrate and get away with a lot of sex crimes, and the failure of systems that should have prevented these crimes and punished perpetrators. Importantly, victim-survivors were given a platform to speak out and share their stories.
However, Filthy Richmissed some important pieces as well. Not all offenders of sexual crimes and abuse are prominent or wealthy. Nude images of victims, likely young girls, were shown in the film. The stories shared by victim-survivors included prurient details of their abuse and exploitation and, by doing so, they may have been re-traumatized by those trying to help them tell their story.
Despite its shortcomings, however, the documentary made a meaningful attempt at centering survivor voices. When these realities are recounted from survivors’ perspectives, that is meaningful and empowering. Especially in cases where perpetrators were/are wealthy and have held outsized power in exploitative scenarios, it is necessary to make space for victims to be heard.
The Death of Jeffrey Epstein Was Not the End of the Story
While we must be survivor-centered, we also need to be offender-focused.
This means that, in order to support the survivors’ struggle for justice, we must call out all the collaborators. This includes those who participated in abuse, those who facilitated it, and the legal system that failed to act on the overwhelming evidence presented. Effectively combating sex trafficking means understanding and ending demand for commercial sex.
Filthy Rich made a foray into this territory by questioning the lack of action by prosecutors and examining the generous deal that Epstein received. However, in the end, it was an unsatisfactory exploration that fell short of meaningful investigation. Discovering that Epstein’s original deal included immunity even for unnamed collaborators made it seem as though the deal was designed by collaborators for collaborators—this thread must not go unfollowed.
Police, probation officers, corrections officers, the US Attorneys’ office, prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges, as well as participants, neighbors, observers, staff, and countless unnamed others permitted these abuses to happen again and again. It was a tragedy of failed systems of accountability. A change in the culture and systems that permitted this must include a deep examination of the myriad personal and systemic failures that have occurred.
Thankfully, we believe Filthy Rich was just a start. Over time, as more investigation uncovers the depth and breadth of Epstein’s web of exploitation, we believe that other perpetrators will have to face justice. Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest reminds and gives us hope that justice is coming for victim-survivors.
“There are others who facilitated or participated in his web of sexual exploitation who must still be brought to justice,” said Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of NCOSE.
By arresting Maxwell and continuing to look into this case, some measure of justice can be recovered for survivors. We hope that the truth about predators who remain unidentified or shielded by power and influence will fully come to light and that restorative justice will come to fruition.
You can read Ghislaine Maxwell’s full indictment here.
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http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00National Center on Sexual Exploitationhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNational Center on Sexual Exploitation2020-07-03 15:08:522020-07-06 08:04:16Ghislaine Maxwell’s Arrest is a Step Toward Justice for Survivors of Epstein’s Abuse
