Call It Like You See It

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But most of all, thank you for listening to the Truth Podcast Network. So when I come to the situation that we're at now with Haiti, even outside of the counter-trafficking that's occurring there and our efforts there, we've got American missionaries who are being held hostage. Including beyond that, there are American Haitians who are being held hostage that people may not be fully aware of. There are Dominicans who are being held hostage. There are gangs that are in a continual struggle for power. There is a shortage of everything from fuel to food, and the country is in a place that no country can stay this way.

It's got to have change. Welcome to Lantern Rescue, a ministry program dedicated to bringing light into the darkness of human trafficking. It's time to light the way to freedom. This is Lantern Rescue. We tell the stories, we talk about rescues, and we empower you to do something about it.

William Wilberforce once said, Let it not be said I was silent when they needed me. This is Lantern Rescue. Welcome to Lantern Rescue today. We have Wren and Mark with us, and Wren has definitely been studying this. She is in law school. The laws affect human trafficking, and this ends up being a really critical thing in order to get the prosecutions that we need to get the people off the street.

Right, Wren? Yeah, absolutely. Knowing the laws, knowing what applies to certain crimes, the laws in your area is vital to being able to prosecute a crime effectively and being able to get the proper services to the victims. Yeah, and so really it appears that in the United States there's been great advances in recent years in creating laws that can be enforced. Yeah, absolutely. So there is a federal statute that makes human trafficking illegal federally, and that's 18 USC Chapter 77.

It's pretty easy to Google, but I think we'll be putting the link in the show notes as well so that people can check that out if they want to read through it. It's kind of wordy, a lot of legalese in it, but that's what makes trafficking illegal federally. And then each state has their own trafficking law as well. Also, a few states have laws about trafficking. The first two states to do that were Washington State and Texas, and that was in 2003, which really wasn't that long ago. But since then, we've had a dramatic uptick in prosecutions and successful prosecutions of human trafficking.

Right. So it's interesting that there's federal laws, but in order for things to fit under the federal law, how does that work? Somebody's got to cross state lines, or how does that work? Not always.

That is like the common thing that most people think of, and that's definitely beneficial. If you're moving a victim across state lines, that easily makes it fall under the federal statute. But there's other ways that the attorney general can pick up cases that are within state borders, so it's not an end-all be-all that they have to cross state lines, but it definitely does help push it into the federal category.

But each state has their own laws as well, so whether it can be prosecuted under state or federally, it definitely can be prosecuted, which is super important and helpful for victims and to get traffickers off the street. And really, from what I understand, one of the gigantic things they did when they changed the law was they changed the sentences, right? They became a lot harsher, right?

Yes. So the Trapping Victims Protection Act of 2000 is really what sparked a dramatic increase in the prosecutions and successful prosecutions. Between 2001 and 2007, there was a 360% increase in convictions, so that's a successful prosecution. And that really was driven by the Trapping Victims Protection Act because that act increased the penalties of trafficking and it gave more protection to the victims, so they were more willing to come forward. And that made it a lot easier for prosecutors because previously, you're trying to go out and you're doing these things and you're trying to get these victims that aren't really willing to talk to you for whatever reason. And a lot of those reasons are, who's going to help me, who's going to protect me, my trafficker's not going to go away for that long, he's going to be back on the street, he's going to find me again.

And that made victims really reluctant to come forward and if they were located by other means, they were really reluctant to testify or to press charges against their trafficker. So that act really changed the narrative around victims and getting them justice and what a successful prosecution can look like now. So what are the things that our listeners really should, you know, if they know of something or what would be helpful, do you feel like, for them to know about this?

We've talked about it in a couple of other episodes and it is a really dense topic and today's episode is a little more educational than normal. There aren't as many victim stories, I don't know if we'll have any today. But what's really important to take away from episodes like this is just the wording of certain things because we all can basically identify a crime.

You know when something's wrong but knowing what to call it and knowing who to call is what's really going to help make sure you don't run out of statute of limitations and make sure you're in the right place to file for that crime and getting the victims the proper assistance. So we've talked about in the past how sexual assault is different from sexual trafficking and it's similar here as well. So it's really important to show the things about sexual assault versus sexual trafficking that differ them and why something can fall under this category.

And it really is, the bright line thing is it is a transaction and it doesn't have to be for money, it could be for drugs or whatever. It has to be a transaction where one person is being sold to another person for a momentary period of a sex act or for forced labor as well. What's really good about our laws here in the United States is we don't just have laws against sex trafficking, we have laws against forced labor as well. So those victims are protected and the task force that handles the prosecution of those crimes has been able to successfully prosecute several labor trafficking cases in recent years which is really amazing. It's hard to imagine that there's labor trafficking in the U.S. but there is and people are getting prosecuted for it which is truly incredible. Now Mark, what does that actually look like, labor trafficking, when you come across it in the United States? Yeah, I mean it's easy to identify internationally because it's in the open. I mean slavery is just around every corner as far as domestic slavery.

In the States, obviously it's hidden a lot of information we have in the States over the years concerning massage parlors, manufacturing facilities. I will tell you of one case I literally just had a conversation about with my sheriff and I'm not going to say where that is but he was disclosing to me a past case about a gentleman who brought a female from another country to the States along with her 12-year-old child and basically forced them into slavery as well as sex slavery and then began to withhold food from them, basically hold them confined until they can comply with what we just were to do with them. And of course it struck a chord with me because we see that same enticement overseas.

A girl, a female, someone is enticed to say look we're going to have a job, a better situation for you, come with us. And they can get really extravagant in how they deceive individuals or family members. But here to realize, oh my goodness, here's an American that was doing this and bringing them over. The other thing I want to comment on is why these statues are familiar to us and I'm not a prosecutor and Rhian is very close to that and keeps us informed and she's an expert on it. It's because we as the land and rescue team and the counter tracking team, we have to be versed on this at a level because overseas there may not be any penal code or prosecution that's written down concerning these matters.

Or if they are written down, they don't know how to act on it or properly interpret it. And so recently, literally just in the last few months, I was sitting in a country with an attorney general's office. I requested that the team that we had, the teams that we had in that country, that my task force leader there, that we were willing to do sting and reverse sting operations but I needed to understand the prosecution, what they would need for evidence and what the requirements were.

Well, it came out, they said, well, we can't do this. It'd be illegal for us to do a sting operation, right? And it would be illegal for us to do a sting operation, it'd be illegal for us to take down a brothel. And so then we start to look in their penal code and this is going to become a project in 2022 for us in collaboration with other partners to say, well, let's go and hold a legal conference for this country. Well, let's see if we can't strengthen their penal code with the end result that we can do these following activities to stop human trafficking. So when we talk about the laws here and understanding, the U.S. really, I may say another country too, but I believe we are one of the countries that lead the way in the right terminology, the right code, the right laws, the right federal laws, the right state laws. And that's so important. But even though we're leading the way, there's still the general public as well as law enforcement who do not completely know their laws and do not completely know how to act on those laws. And so that's even their organizations that are in the states that do a phenomenal job. I mean, they're doing training, not just about what human trafficking is for law enforcement, but they're doing training as far as here's what human trafficking is, here's what your state laws are, here's what your federal laws are. And all of that's new activity in America, believe it or not. But that's why this educational piece is important.

Yeah. And it just highlights the fact that, wow, what a great opportunity for us to be praying, right? Praying that this information will get spread to the people in different countries so that they can have laws that will protect people as well as being able to prosecute people and have the sentencing like you were talking about, Wren, that really affected folks here.

So it takes wisdom to get all this stuff done. And I'm so grateful for a show where we get the information out there because I certainly had no idea. We will be right back with much more, especially today, we're going to be talking about the national strategy, really, that that we're all involved in to combat human trafficking.

We'll be right back. They offer services free of charge to their host nations. Human trafficking has grown into the second largest criminal activity in the world, reaching an estimated 150 billion dollars in annual activity. Lantern Rescue has developed rapidly to combat trafficking. Lantern operates through a trained international network in order to rescue women and children from sex and labor slavery and facilitates holistic aftercare services.

They're gearing up for operations right now and you can go to lanternrescue.org to see how you can support them financially. The following program contains sensitive content, including accounts of sexual abuse and suicide. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome back to Lantern Rescue, where today we're talking about the actual laws and what it takes to get things prosecuted, both the United States and really how that applies a little bit overseas. But, you know, these strategies are important and getting this word out, I mean, this is something that really has just happened, it seems like in the last 20 years, right, Wren? Yeah, it's really gotten momentum since 2000, so that's really only been 20 years ago, which to some listeners might sound like a long time, but it's really not, especially in the world of the law. Changing laws is a very difficult thing to do, and the amount of momentum that it's gotten in 20 years has been incredible, and I know a lot of listeners probably don't hear about human trafficking prosecutions here in the United States very often, and they aren't as frequent as like a simple drug possession or a sexual assault case or even a homicide case, but they are gaining momentum and they are becoming to be recognized as something that is a crisis around the world, and the United States is included in that. So the actual law, if anyone wants to look it up, I mentioned it earlier, it's 18 USC Chapter 77, and in the sections that you want to look at specifically for trafficking, 1589 and 1590 deal with labor trafficking, and 1591 deals specifically with sex trafficking of children by force, fraud, or coercion.

And they have some really important stuff to take away from this statute. I won't read you the whole thing because everyone's eyes will blaze over, but some of the stuff in here that's really important is that if the child is under 18 years old, you do not have to prove that there was any coercion that forced them to engage in the sex act. Being under 18 years old and being used for profit in the sex industry makes it sex trafficking, and it can be prosecuted that way, even if they quote unquote went willingly. So that's something that's very important. So even for victims that think that it was their boyfriend and they don't have a good case because they said it was okay or whatever that situation is, it is still sex trafficking, it is still wrong, and it still can be prosecuted.

So that's very important to take away from this. Other things that are important are the mandatory minimums that are listed in this statute. So if the child is 14 years or under for sex trafficking crime, the minimum sentence that their trafficker will get is 15 years, and it can go up to life. If they are between the ages of 14 to 18, the minimum sentence is 10 years, and they can additionally go away for life. So those are, while 10 years and 15 years, they don't sound like a lot, you've got to think of aggravating circumstances.

So the trafficker is most likely not just trafficking one victim, and they're definitely not doing it once. So those can be aggravated, and you can get 70 years, 80 years, 116. You can get really massive sentences off these with that little part in there that says not less than 15 years or for life. So they can go up to life, and that's really incredible, and that's part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act that allowed victims to come forward because these sentences were intensified.

I want to say something about that, if I could. Why that little information is important is when we're overseas and prosecution or law enforcement is looking for our direction, we have a base. We're able to go, hey, in America, this is what this person would be facing. This is the payment for the crime, and this is the goal.

Unfortunately, I can think in one country we work in, they do hand out 20 years quite frequently, but most of the countries we work in, although the prosecution is sometimes easier to obtain, in some places it's not, but in some places where it is, usually you're looking at five years, maybe five to seven. And for us, we're able to, having this law in place in the US, this federal sentencing structure, we can say, hey, do you understand in America, this is what this person would be facing. Yeah, you're completely right.

It's super vital for us to be able to use that overseas and to have those conversations with the prosecutors, with the judges, with the attorney generals about what our sentences look like and why. Yeah. And interestingly, you said it's also, there's a US code that's establishing a national strategy to combat human trafficking?

Yes. So 34 USC 2711, if you want to look that up, that's establishing a national strategy to combat human trafficking. And this strategy is incredible. It's a codified strategy that is working to integrate the federal, state, and local law enforcement in efforts to investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases jointly, which if anyone's watched any crime show ever, there's always this standoff between the FBI and local state police who gets which jurisdiction. And there's, it's always a point of contention in those crime shows. But with this, and it does happen in real life as well, but with this, it shows that it is such an important thing that no matter what, we're all trying to work together.

This is a coordinated effort that everyone's got the same goals. And it's really incredible to see that not only are we putting this law on the books that human trafficking is illegal, but we are, in some countries, a lot of countries around the world, have a trafficking law on the books. Does that mean they're prosecuting it? Not necessarily. And it certainly doesn't mean that they have gone so far as to establish something like this that is the national strategy, which seems kind of not as important to some people.

But if you think about it, you can just put the statute on the books and never prosecute it. But when you go so far as to work out this entire strategy and put it down into law, it's showing a real commitment to prosecuting these traffickers into getting justice for the victims, which is really unique to the United States and to only a few other countries in the world that are willing to take such an active role in preventing trafficking. Yeah. And when you look at that strategy that, you know, actually Wren sent over to us, one of the things it mentioned was that, you know, it was kind of encouraging to me, the Bureau of Justice that says they've funded 42 human trafficking task forces. I mean, that's huge, isn't it?

Yes. Isn't that incredible? And that's another part of it.

There's so many layers to it. And I think it really speaks to why we concentrate our efforts overseas versus the United States, because over, you know, America really has a lot. You know, they're willing to allocate money for 42 task forces. 42 across the United States doesn't sound like a lot. It's a lot. And the money it takes to run them is a lot.

And the training and the commitment and all of that, it's a lot. And that is unique to America. Other countries aren't doing this. They maybe might have a law in the books. They don't allocate money. They don't allocate training.

They definitely don't have a national strategy. That's why we're there, is we go there free of charge to help them get closer to where America is at. And we do do some consultation here in the States, and we do help out task forces when we are able to. But by the vast majority, America is very well set to handle human trafficking cases. And the next step in the process that's going to help that is victims coming forward or people that see something.

It doesn't even have to be the victim. If you think you see something, call the National Trafficking Tip Line. The number is 888-3737-888.

Just call them and give them a tip. Another amazing thing that is established in the national strategy is that the Attorney General has designated a federal judicial district. At least one Assistant United States Attorney is a human trafficking coordinator. So everyone in America lives in a federal judicial district.

You just have to look up and see which one yours is. And then you can look up and see who your human trafficking coordinator is for that district. And that is essentially the main honcho for your district in human trafficking laws and prosecutions. So I doubt, you know, you probably won't be able to get directly in touch with them, but you can get in touch with that office. And you can pass up tips that way as well.

That's going to have some resources on what to do if you see trafficking or if you are a victim of trafficking. So let me see if I can understand. That's amazing. So, you know, say somebody, you know, they live in Atlanta, right? And so there is a federal judge, am I right? That's what it is?

That is over that? Well, no, not quite. So it's a federal judicial district. So every state, they fall into federal judicial districts across the country. And I'm a really bad law student because I shouldn't know how many there are. I want to say there's 13.

I can look it up really quick. So say there's 13 districts. And so each of those are broken up and each of those 13 districts have someone who is over, specifically that's their job in life is to be over human trafficking in their district?

Yes. And I was wrong. I'm a terrible law student. It is 94 federal judicial districts organized into 12 regional circuits. I was thinking about the circuit cases.

I'm not that bad. But that's even better. There's almost two per state if you, you know, mask that out. And then there will be someone, so there's at least 94 of these people in the United States, that their job is the human trafficking coordinator for that district. So there is a concentrated effort in these areas to be helping to facilitate training. And that's one of their jobs is they help facilitate training of law enforcement and of people that might be encountering victims of trafficking. And they're, you know, really helping to move along the prosecutorial process with human trafficking in their district.

Bobby, I want to say that in the last year, I've probably had seven sheriffs that I've sat down with in conversation. And I would say each one of them vocalized the same thing without me leading them to that. And that is that they have cases of human trafficking and every single one of them has had one fault in it. And the fault is that nobody said anything. Like no local community, those who were close to the family, those who were close to the individual, those who were the neighbors.

Like the chips just didn't come quick enough, soon enough, fast enough in their opinion. That's partly a great deal is just knowing what human trafficking looks like. And you being on the show and us who live and fight it all the time, we ask, how can nobody know what it looks like? Right. At this point. But believe it or not, there's still a failure in the education. Again, this is why this show is what we're talking about here.

But each one of these sheriffs all vocalized, you know what, we've got cases, but we wish we'd got them sooner because nobody said anything to us. Oh, man, I'll tell you, you know, I'm trying to remember the young lady's name that we interviewed a few episodes ago. Kaylee.

Kaylee, yeah. I'll never, ever forget those words coming out. I just wondered if anybody cared. You know, that's why God's putting people on our path to see that and our opportunity to care, whether you're a teacher or a neighbor or a pastor or wherever are, you know, you see something, say something.

You know, it's so important that we care, right, Ram? Yeah, it really is. And, you know, you got to think about there's a recent case in my area, and it is not a trafficking case. It is just an unfortunate homicide.

And that's all I'm going to say about it. But one of the comments that we've been getting about this particular case is, you know, why didn't anyone say anything? How did no one notice that there was abuse going on in this household? And it is very difficult for victims to come forward. And it's difficult for teachers and for people around them to accuse someone of something.

And I understand that. However, the people in this, the victims that we have recently deceased in my area, the people that were in their lives are now living with regret that they didn't say anything. Personally, if I ever was in a situation where someone thought I was harming someone in my life, and you've sent up a tip on me, I would be grateful that you're looking out for my relative, that you're looking out for someone, because I know I didn't do it.

So in those situations where it's the teacher and they're uncomfortable reporting it, the trafficking tip line is anonymous. And a lot of people are also reluctant to send up tips or to report something because they don't know, is this even a crime? Is anyone even going to do anything? What's going to happen? It is a crime, and people will do something.

And if you're wrong and nothing happened, at least you won't have that regret someday that you were right and that that person was harmed or killed because you didn't pass up a tip. It's just something to think about. Oh, yeah. But we're going to, again, put that number in the show notes, but can you give it out one more time, Wren? Absolutely.

It is 888-3737-888. Yeah, Mark, you're hearing it from the sheriffs, you're hearing it from law enforcement, and we all see that. And the fact that you've listened to today's show, God's put it on our hearts that we would pray to have the courage to stand up, or for those that we know would have the courage to stand up, as well as to continue to help you guys in all that's going on overseas. Thank you guys, always. We're grateful to our listeners, we're grateful to our donors. We're busy in the fight, we're short-handed in a lot of ways, and those who continue to give, I just want to publicly thank them. We had a lot of folks who have been giving lately, I've noticed, and they're really stepping up, and that support is going straight to the field. We're really having a great impact this year in the countries that we're working in. I know, I had a lot of people contact me about our prayer for Haiti. That's still going on, Sherry's being held, we've got some other people, not Americans, but friends.

Haiti has become a little bit like Afghanistan, we have helped to secure people in the Far East, and now I'm getting the same type of requests in Haiti of loved ones and friends saying, hey, I've been in Haiti, I've got to move from point A to point B, can you guys help me? So, much of our team is still out and about and deployed, and we're going different directions. Hopefully next show will get us all on here together, and really this show sets up some other conversations we want to have in some of the groups that we're collaborating with. Yeah, and Wren, thank you so much, wow. I mean, just tons of much needed information, and so glad you got it out today. Yeah, absolutely, thank you guys for sticking with us. I know it was a little dense with the law side of things, but it is really important, and we'll include some of this stuff in the show notes if you want to read through these statutes.

They're dense, but they aren't that long, and they are really worth it. It's good to know what's happening in your country, and the law's against this. If you feel passionate about trafficking, this is a great thing to look at. Yeah, absolutely. God bless, thank you so much. Thanks, guys. This is the Truth Network.