Arriving in Georgia to become the nanny of a 4-year-old and an infant boy, Ayaan was excited to come to America to begin work for the family who had advertised on a website in her native country of Somalia. The ad she answered said it would be an opportunity to work while studying to become a U.S. citizen and learn English.
Within weeks, Ayaan was doing manual labor, living in the garage with no ventilation and no way out. She was forced to use a bucket for toileting.
The father of the family required her to mow the lawn, not with the lawnmower, but with a machete, blade by blade. When it wasn’t cut evenly or when she failed to meet his standards in her work, the father used his belt to hit Ayaan, most often on the back of the legs.
Once, when she was sick, he forced her to lick up her own vomit from the kitchen floor to clean it up.
This is a true story and a snapshot of modern-day slavery. Ayaan’s story is a form of human trafficking, called labor trafficking, and it is happening all over the world. The U.S. State Department reports approximately 27.6 million people were used in forced labor worldwide in 2021.
Thankfully, Ayaan confided in someone at a local church who came to her aid and contacted local authorities about her situation. Homeland Security Investigations prosecuted the U.S. family who engaged in this unspeakable crime.
January was National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Every year since 2010, the president has dedicated the month to raise awareness about human trafficking and to educate the public on how to identify and prevent this crime.
Did you see any politician or elected official warning of the danger of human trafficking during the month? Where is Joe Biden?
Republicans in Congress have been ratcheting up the pressure on the Biden administration to stop the flow of immigrants across the Southern border and on Wednesday voted on the impeachment of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkis.
But where is the sense of urgency when it comes to buying and selling human beings along our Southern border?
Seventy-two percent of human trafficking victims in the U.S. are immigrants. In 2023 —147,000 unaccompanied migrant children entered the U.S.; that’s 12,000 children per month.
Why are these children crossing the border alone? Where are their parents? The drug smugglers, transnational criminal organizations, or single, adult males step into that role and soon use and abuse them to get across the border and make money.
Once these men are illegally enter the U.S., they often smuggle the children back across the border where they will continue to be trafficked and used to do the same thing all over again. All for a price.
Border Patrol sees it happening before their eyes. DHS Secretary Mayorkis has the data but is doing nothing to stop it.
According to the director of the Latin American branch of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 60% of Latin American children unaccompanied crossing the border or with smugglers “have been caught by the cartels and are being abused in child pornography or drug trafficking.”
Do the math!! Nearly 100,000 children were used as slaves at our Southern border.
These statistics are mind-boggling. The current policy by the Biden administration is child abuse, plain and simple.
In September, the House Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Rep. Mark Green, R-Tennessee, questioned Tim Ballard, the former DHS agent whose story of saving 120 children from trafficking was featured in the blockbuster film Sound of Freedom about the tragedy at the border. His words are chilling:
“A child can be sold up to 20 times per day, six days a week for 10 years or even longer depending on when the abuse began … poor U.S. border security and broken U.S. policy are feeding the growth of human trafficking in the United States … Tragically, as a result of this administration’s reckless policies, DHS and HHS have unwittingly become a child trafficking delivery service. This must stop.”
He’s right; it must stop!
According to State Department statistics, 6.3 million people were forced into commercial sexual exploitation in 2021, and 1.7 million of those were children.
Members of Congress have the ability to pass legislation that would hold governments accountable with sanctions. The Department of Justice must step up prosecution of child traffickers and give these predators life sentences in prison.
Selling and abusing human beings is a crime. It must be treated as the vile, despicable, and intolerable behavior we all know it to be. It’s time for a new zero tolerance for perpetrators of this crime.
(Names and countries of victims have been changed for protection.)
Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, the nation's largest public policy women's organization, oversees more than 500,000 members and 190 Young Women for America chapters. Named as one of the top four most powerful pro-life female voices by the Christian Post and by Newsmax as one of the 100 most influential evangelicals in America, Nance is a national leader on messaging and policy. Read more Penny Nance Reports — Here.