Rescued: 105 Kids Forced into Prostitution (FBI raids 76 Cities)

WASHINGTON (AP) —

Authorities rescued 105 children who were forced into prostitution and arrested 150 pimps and others in a three-day law enforcement sweep in 76 American cities, the FBI said Monday. The victims, almost all girls, range in age from 13-17.

The largest numbers of children rescued were in San Francisco, Detroit, Milwaukee, Denver and New Orleans. The campaign, known as Operation Cross Country, was conducted under the FBI’s Innocence Lost initiative.

“Child prostitution remains a persistent threat to children across the country,” Ron Hosko, assistant director of the bureau’s criminal investigative division, told a press conference.

The FBI said the campaign has resulted in rescuing 2,700 children since 2003.

The investigations and convictions of 1,350 have led to life imprisonment for 10 pimps and the seizure of more than $3.1 million in assets.

For the past decade, the FBI has been attacking the problem in partnership with a nonprofit group, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

John Ryan, the head of the center, called the problem “an escalating threat against America’s children.”

The Justice Department has estimated that nearly 450,000 children run away from home each year and that one-third of teens living on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home.

Congress has introduced legislation that would require state law enforcement, foster care and child welfare programs to identify children lured into sex trafficking as victims of abuse and neglect eligible for the appropriate protections and services.

“In much of the country today if a girl is found in the custody of a so-called pimp, she is not considered to be a victim of abuse, and that’s just wrong and defies common sense,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last month. Wyden co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

 

Published first at: http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/fbi-raids-76-cities-rescue-105-kids-forced-prostit/nY7B8/

 

#31DaysofFreedom

 

Love’s House

Haunted. That is exactly what Christian Dunn felt when he awoke in a cold sweat. He had been dreaming, but it was all too real. Could he even call it dreaming? It was a nightmare! After two weeks he still could not shake the look in those eyes.

Chris had been in India on a mission trip. Posing as customers, he and a friend infiltrated one of the brothels that was planned to be raided. Nothing could have prepared him for what he had seen there. Girls and women of all ages – some couldn’t have been more than eight years old were sitting there. All of them had a lifeless look in their eyes. The unmentionable horrors they had endured had killed their spirit. It broke his heart to see such injustice. He was sickened by the sight of it all. Just as much, he was disgusted at himself. To pose as the very thing he hated – a man that victimized these girls and women for cheap pleasure, made him sick to his stomach.

There was one girl in particular – she couldn’t have been more than ten years old. Dressed in her finery, her eyes were unlike the others. She must have been new to the brothel because there was still a spark in her eyes – there was still life in her eyes instead of the hollowness that was found in the others. The other girls did nothing more than glance at the men when they had come in. But this girl, she was different. Somehow she stood out amongst the others.

The women and girls did not have names. They had been stripped of their names when they were brought there. Whether they had been picked up or sold by their own families or had come on their own accord – they were not called by names, they each had a number – A number because they were not be human enough for a name for the unspeakable things that were done to them on a daily basis. Number 126 stared out at them. Her eyes held the truth of the shameful acts that she was forced into, but they also held onto a thread of hope that she could be rescued. She hadn’t given up yet. As she looked at Christian and Drew her eyes were hard as if to say, You won’t break me. After a moment or two though, they softened. The girl must have realized that they were not there to hurt her. They were not like other men. How she picked up on that, neither were sure. But in a moment the look in her eyes changed as if to beg them,help me! Save me!

 As Chris and Drew left the brothel, both had heavy spirits for the terrors that went on in that place. They felt disgusted at the fact that they even acted as customers for such a place. They prayed as they walked back to the camp. The night after tomorrow, there would be a raid on the brothel that they had visited. The women and girls would go free and be moved to a home which the team had just finished building weeks earlier.

Love’s House – it was called. Their theme verse was found in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.” In this home the rescued victims would be taught to read and write with the word of God. They also had a ministry to counsel the victims of the sex trafficking that they had lived through. Each woman would be taught a skill to live on. It was a nine month program and worth every penny put into it, every hour spent working on it, and every life that was changed by it.

Many who worked in the home were volunteers and several were women who had previously been brought through the program who had found such a miraculous healing in Jesus that penetrated deep into the soul. The once hardened, lifeless eyes were now bright and hopeful and filled with purpose. She always had a smile and was the first to share her testimony with the new girls.

Healing hadn’t come easy for her. Mitali’s very mother was the woman who ran the brothel and she gone and sold her off to another. After being sent away to another town in India, Mitali had to learn to adjust to life in the brothel. In her heart she daily dealt with the hurt that her mother had sold her into this life – her very own mother. She could not understand the rejection. The pain of it stung deep inside her heart. But one thing that Mitali had learned over the course of her short life and with her time in the brothels – you had to do whatever it took to survive. That meant numbing yourself from all experiences. You had to become dead because to live hurt. To live meant not only the pain, but shame and emotions too raw and too powerful to even put a name to. She thought she had reached that place of a rock-hardened soul – then she was rescued. It didn’t happen in a moment, but it was a process. But it happened . And it was in Love’s House that she discovered what true love really is – and WHO true love is. It was here she met Love Himself – Jesus.

#31DaysofFreedom

This is a fictional story containing very true events. This happens many times. Please get plugged in and help save these girls. Give them a chance to meet Love. 

 

Spoken Word

From the Phoenix Dream Center:

Spoken Word on Sex Trafficking

 

It Gets Personal!

Up to this point, I feel like I’ve fed you a lot of statistics and not enough substance to show you just how real the problem of human trafficking is in this country – in every country!

The average age for a girl entering the slave trade is 13 years old.

13 years old! That’s it. Surely, you know a family member or friend or neighbor that age. Can you imagine them being taken for the purpose of sexual exploitation?

It gets personal. When I heard the average age was 13 my thoughts immediately went to my sister who is 13. That hit home very quickly. Don’t think something can’t happen to anyone. This is closer to home than it might seem – much closer than you might think.

This is why it is so important to educate yourself on the trafficking. No one is immune to it. For the sake of those around you, learn to recognize the signs. You could save a life – and it could be someone you know – it could be your loved one.

How are you going to educate yourself on the issues?

Save a life.

#31DaysofFreedom

 

Hear Us From Heaven – The Silent Cries of Millions

Due to the bitter-cold temperatures (10-20 below 0 with the wind chill), our school has a two-hour delay this morning. What lies heavily on my heart this moment are the effects of a decision  made 40 years ago, January 22, 1973 – Roe v. Wade – the Supreme Court decision to overturn the interpretation of abortion law making abortion legal in the United States. If the weather wasn’t enough to make me cold, the knowledge of the 55+ million lives that were lost since the Roe v. Wade decision does.

My heart breaks for the millions that were not given the chance to live.

And my heart breaks for the mothers who still suffer from that decision and the pain that resulted from it.

And my heart breaks for the families that will never know these precious lives.

I do not write to condemn those who have been there. I do not write to attack or offend in any way. But I write as a voice for those that were silenced before they got to speak. I write as a voice for those who will never get to speak. Proverbs 31:8 says this:

“Speak for those who cannot speak; seek justice for all those on the verge of destruction.”  (ISV)

The New King James Version puts it this way,  “Open your mouth for the speechless, In the cause of all who are appointed to die.” 

I speak on behalf of the millions affected by Roe v. Wade. 

Today I beseech you, go to your knees and intercede for this generation. “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Pray for God’s love and peace to cover:

• Those currently contemplating abortion and who may feel like that is their only choice
• The post-abortive women who are hurting from their decision and those that this decision was forced on them
• The men who will never meet their child due to an abortion

Pray for:

• The hearts of the people to change and for there to be a respect and a love for life.
• The government officials to have a respect for life.
• Godly people to be elected into government positions.

 

For those of you who have already had an abortion:

You are loved. You have not been disqualified from the love of God. Know that there are prayers going up for you today.

 

Lord, You hear the silent cries of millions. From the innocent who have already lost their voices, to those grieving and silently suffering. Let the hurting feel your love and your peace today. Call this nation back to you. Amen.

 

Live. Pursue. Love. Endure.

~Brittany L. Ketter