“While it is difficult to imagine, the average age of a child targeted for prostitution in the United States is between 11 and 14 years old. Once in the custody of a pimp, everything the child earns goes to the captor and attempted escapes often result in brutal beatings or even death.” This recent statement was made by Kevin Perkins of the FBI as part of his summary of the Innocence Lost National Initiative (begun in 2003).
While the FBI is working with local law enforcement and some other groups to recover children that have become victims of pimps, Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) was launched in recent years by Chapter 61 Ministries to increase both awareness and the number of children saved. “Human trafficking, a term for modern-day slavery, is a $32 billion worldwide industry with more than 27 million people enslaved. It has been reported in all 50 states . . .” (TAT website). The TAT website goes on to say that there are between 200,000 and 300,000 people trafficked within the U.S. every year, and at least 17,000 are trafficked into the country. According to UNICEF, “more than 100,000 minors are prostituted in the United States each year” (in Highway Hostages), and the most recent Justice Department report on human trafficking cases reported that 40% of their cases involved children.
TAT has a very informative and well-crafted video--their own training video shown to trucking students and others--on their website homepage. The site also has numerous pages of resources, including related videos, posters, wallet cards with the national trafficking hotline, and stories of individual victims. One such story is that of Teresa Flores, who was blackmailed into prostituting at the age of 15 through a date rape video. This happened in Ohio, one of the real hot-spots of under-age prostitution in the U.S. Only the illegal drug industry takes in more money than sex trafficking worldwide. Flores said, "We have allowed this to happen. We don't like to think that it happens here, but slavery is alive and well in the U.S."
As followers of Christ, Christians are to be imitators of Him. Numerous passages in the bible, Christ’s word, decry victimization and exploitation, and point us to action and hope. “He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free, the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous” (Psalm 147:7-8). “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Kidnapping a person and selling them or treating them as a slave is considered evil by the Lord, and in the ancient nation of Israel was punishable by death (Exodus 21:16, Deuteronomy 24:7). As Jesus said, “It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin” (Luke 17:2).
Additional sources: Sixty-nine Children Rescued During Operation Cross Country V, [FBI] Statement Before the Senate Judiciary Committee (March 2, 2011).
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