Tag: human trafficking

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Why I’m losing (and gaining) hope about abuse in a COVID world

COVID

Make no mistake: abuse is rampant during the COVID pandemic. Not surprisingly, there has been a dramatic increase in online exploitation and trafficking of children. In 2019, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 16.9 million reports, and the majority of them were related to apparent child sexual material, online enticement, child sex trafficking, and child sexual molestation. That was 2019. This year, those numbers have exploded. Forbes had an article at the beginning of the COVID crisis called Child Exploitation Complaints Rise 106% To Hit 2 Million In Just One Month: Is COVID-19 To Blame? Our children are more vulnerable to predators than they’ve ever been, for a variety of reasons.

Every report I read and every advocate, counselor, and doctor I speak with says the same thing–abuse is dramatically increasing, especially among children. The problem is exasperated by unrest and violence across the nation. I recently spoke with agents from Homeland Security and the US Marshals and they told me that only the most severe cases of abuse are being looked at while all others are being flat-out ignored. Law enforcement and federal agencies are overwhelmed and are reaching a breaking point. NYPD had to limit retirement applications earlier last month after receiving a more than 400% increase in requests. Court proceedings are convening online, and many cases are falling through the cracks as a result. Elected officials are releasing dangerous sex offenders into the streets because apparently that’s safer for our communities than said offenders getting sick in prison. In April, Orange County California gave seven very dangerous sexual predators early release. Orange County is not the only one releasing dangerous criminals. This is happening all over the US and politicians who are doing this need to be held accountable.

The list could go on and on. My mom and I have dedicated quite a few podcasts to our growing concern about abuse during quarantines. There are many days where I lose hope. I lose hope because our system is badly broken and overburdened to begin with. It takes a tremendous amount of time, money, and resources to convict people of sex crimes. That’s assuming they were caught in the first place. Right now, every agency is overwhelmed. My friends who work in sex crimes divisions throughout various agencies tell me that they are burned out. Abusers are openly talking about exploiting children. They no longer have to hide because they know the risk of getting caught has plummeted. Many schools are not opening in-person classes in the fall. This leaves already battered, molested, and terrified children even more vulnerable. This, too, makes me lose hope.

But I also have hope. While on vacation recently I saw families out and about, smiling and laughing. Every person we encountered was kind and many went out of their way to talk to us. More people are spending time outside and recreation businesses are booming. Advocacy centers are very aware of the vulnerability of children right now and are being proactive by checking in on families. Every police officer, federal agent, and case worker I talk to are super kind, helpful, and are thankful for communication.

I’ve witnessed people working hard to provide online training, since many in-person trainings cannot take place. Operation Underground Railroad is actively rescuing human trafficking victims all over the world. That organization alone is raising awareness and people are paying attention. Today the Justice Department is announcing $35 million in grants for housing assistance to victims of human trafficking.

I have hope because people are openly talking about abuse like never before. Victims are being empowered to speak up. Several states opened up a one to two year window that allows victims to file lawsuits against organizations that covered up their abuse. I have hope because I don’t believe that people are going to keep remaining silent. Just yesterday Jerry Fallwell Jr. posted, then deleted, highly inappropriate photos of him partying on a yacht. The public is outraged and is demanding his immediate firing from Liberty University. The days of this kind of gross public behavior are over. People have had enough and are going to keep calling out people for being gross and demoralizing others. And so I have hope.

Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

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Tenancingo: Home Grown Sexual Abusers

Trucking had always been a dream of mine. I’ve always liked operating heavy machinery and traveling, so trucking was a natural fit. I drove truck coast to coast for one year in between college and seminary, while I was still single. My first time across the Rockies was in a bad snow storm. Dropping down a hill in a semi truck from 11,000 feet when it’s hammering snow is quite an experience! What makes it more adventurous is looking down and seeing other tractor trailers that have careened off the interstate to the bottom of ravines from years past. It’s an eerie feeling to see multiple unrecovered trucks at the bottom of a mountain. Once a truck has fallen so far, it’s impossible to tow it back up to the top of a mountain, so many of them end up being left there permanently.

I believe evil is the same way. Once someone has fallen so far down, it becomes impossible to tow them back to the top. I had a Bible professor who has another helpful analogy called the “chained dog” theory. Evil is like a dog that’s chained up. It has boundaries set by God. Evil still exists, but the chain restricts evil’s reach. We can either stay outside of evil’s reach, or we can taunt it and risk it latching on to us and dragging us deeper into its territory. Have any of you ever been to a place that is so dark, you can “feel” the evil?
chained dog

God warned the Israelites, “But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away” (1 Samuel 12:24-25 NIV). Romans 12:21 says, “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” The Bible mentions evil and its variants (evils, evildoer, etc.) just shy of 500 times. There is a consistent message throughout the Bible that many Christians deny. . . there is a level of evil that creates a suction point, a trap, a point of no return.

The small town of Tenancingo, Mexico is one of these places. It is the breeding ground for a major pedophile ring and sex trafficking to the United States. Young children are saying that they want to be like their dads and sell women for sex. There is no remorse, and darkness plagues the town. Psychologists are divided on what “makes” a perpetrator act out on very young children. Is it psychological factors, environmental, genetic, addictions to pornography, etc.? To be fair, nobody really knows for sure. If we are honest, we would admit that there are many hidden factors, both in the brain and in the home, that we will probably never figure out as far as causality. But one thing we can probably all agree on is that perpetrators who sexually act out on children are committing an evil. And once you begin messing with the dog, eventually it’s going to bite. And in Tenancingo, the dog has claimed its territory and is dragging people all over the place. I highly recommend watching this documentary on Tanancingo’s trafficking of sex slaves to the US. It is worth every minute.
****WARNING: We need people to watch this and raise awareness that this stuff happens all the time****

So what’s my point? Or rather, what’s God’s point? At the top of the list, remember the old saying, “If you play with fire you’re bound to get burned?” Well, if you play with evil, you’re bound to get bit. According to Scripture, we’ve all done evil. But it’s the perpetual toying with it that leads to the point of no return. There is, however, great news in all of this. For those who struggle with pedophilic thoughts at a younger age, rehabilitation is quite successful. I’d encourage parents who have allegations come against their children to not be so quick to defend them. Rather, get them the help they need.

I’ve received several phone calls with similar scenarios–a 13-15 year old boy was inappropriately saying things, doing things, or was infatuated with young children. And in all the cases (so far), the parents or guardians defended the perpetrator, not the alleged victims. Folks, if you see your child getting too close to a chained dog, don’t tell everyone else to buzz off. Help pull your child from that evil. Seek professional guidance from a sex-specific therapist. Help your child get out before it is too late. The more children learn to keep this a secret, the more they will be emboldened to act out. Help them get out. Help them find a way to deal with their attraction and aggression toward younger children. Love does not defend evil. It helps pull people from it before they become so debased that they cannot stop.

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Child Sex Trafficking In the Church

Amber Lyon did a great documentary a few years back called Child Sex Trafficking on the Internet–“Selling the Girl Next Door.” Take time to watch it. This is a must watch. She talks firsthand with the Johns who were caught buying underage girls for sex. She also speaks with young girls being trafficked. Underage girls are being sold for sex every day by the thousands on backpage.com. I’ve checked out backpage.com myself and there is no hiding it. It took me less than 30 seconds to find hundreds of young girls for sale.

The internet has accelerated the sex slave industry in more than a few ways. First of all, instant accessibility to thousands of children being sold online has made it too easy for predators to offend. In the documentary, Amber posted a picture of her in her 2 piece when she was 14 along with an ad for sex. Within 4 minutes of posting the ad she began getting bombarded with calls from men wanting sex, knowing she was (though only posing as) underage. Second, social networking has provided unlimited access of public pictures of young children, allowing predators to troll for the children of their choice so that they can feed their fantasy. See my Facebook: Playground for Pedophiles to see how prevalent this is. Finally, the internet provides an “escape,” a place where people can hide dirty little secrets and remain completely anonymous.

In Amber’s documentary, you’ll find what should be common sense to us all–prostitutes don’t enjoy doing what they do! As she interviews hookers at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel in Nevada, it becomes apparent through the tears that it’s a less than desirable “job.” As one prostitute weeps, she recounts her childhood molestation, “Virginity wasn’t an option where I came from. It was taken from me. When you get in the game and someone wants to sleep with you for money, and you’ve already lost your virginity, it’s like, ‘Why not?. . . Why not?’. . . . . Sex is not as sacred as it once was.” Dennis Hof, owner of the brothel, tells Amber why pimps seek young children to be trafficked–“They’re easily manipulated.” I interviewed former porn star Crissy Moran last year and asked her if she believed that the statistics are true that up to 90% of women in the sex industry have been sexually abused as children. Crissy said, “I definitely believe it’s true. The women in this industry are very broken.” Crissy herself had been sexually abused multiple times as a very young child. Living in a Christian home, virginity was idolized. When that was taken from Crissy at a young age, she too thought this of the idea of selling her body for money–“Why not?”

The maddening thing for me is that many of (if not the majority of) these women who were sexually abused as children were abused by trusted church members. This makes church one of the largest sex trafficking vehicles in the country. You may think I’m exaggerating, but everywhere I travel I’m told countless stories from survivors whose virginity was stolen from them at a young, young age. Heck, I don’t even have to travel to hear stories of sex abuse in the church. Several of my friends locally tell me story after story of sex abuse that has happened in their churches. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make people fearful of churches or paint the idea that Christians are creeps. I’m a minister myself and I believe it’s the faith community that should be stepping up to turn this problem around. But to live in denial is the best way to ensure that the church’s trafficking of children continues. I can’t emphasize enough how prevalent abuse is in the church. And believe me, it’s not just Catholics.

I hope that I can shed a light on this atrocious evil that is being done in secret in the name of God. It’s not funny. It’s not something that happens every once in a while. It’s not something to take lightly. I leave in 2 days to conduct a seminar on abuse at a church in Michigan. I’ve already heard stories of saddening abuse from people who will be there and I will hear several more from people in my audience. It happens everywhere I speak. It is our job as Christians to “have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible” (Ephesians 5:11-14 NIV). Folks, it’s time we get out the spotlights! Tell your church leaders that this problem is real, that it happens all the time, and that we won’t stand for the church being silent on the sex trafficking of our young children.

Be sure to check out Amber’s video: