Former Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard, who was the inspiration for anti-child trafficking blockbuster Sound of Freedom, called out the Biden administration to get serious about the missing 85,000 missing migrant children.
Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad, appeared at a press conference on Tuesday with Rep. Chris Smith to promote legislation requiring the federal government to track down the estimated 85,000 unaccompanied kids who have vanished from custody.
Ballard slammed Biden for the missing children and called for them to have the same protection as an American child found wandering alone in a major US city, protecting them from child trafficking.
Ballard also noted that vulnerable children are more at risk for child trafficking because it is the “number-one country in consuming child-exploitation material.”
“So my question for this administration: Why will you not at the very least give these foreign children that same protection? You’re giving them no protection, hardly any at all. In fact, what you’re giving them is a joke,” he said.
Smith’s bill, the Safeguarding Endangered Children, Unaccompanied and at Risk of Exploitation [SECURE] Act, directs federal agencies to report on their activities regarding the children released into the US to a parent, relative or sponsor since Jan. 1, 2021.
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The agencies would also need to document their efforts to locate the children and to investigate suspected human trafficking in them.
Since 2021, around 345,000 unaccompanied minors have crossed the border, according to US Customs and Border Protection figures.
Out of those numbers, around 85,000 have lost contact with federal officials, putting them at risk of sex trafficking, exploitation, and abuse.
“The Biden Administration must be held accountable for its failed open border policies that have put tens of thousands of children in grave danger and at great risk of death, child sexual exploitation and abuse,” Smith said in a statement.
He drafted a bill with the vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, Roger Severino, and Eduardo Verastegui, producer of “Sound of Freedom.”
Smith praised Ballard’s work, which has helped rescue thousands of children from exploitation.
“We use the word hero all too often in public life,” said the congressman. “This man is a hero.”
Ballard is scheduled to testify at a hearing g on the bill before the House Foreign Affairs global affairs subcommittee this Theudsya.
Angel Studios raised a whopping $5 million through crowd-funding to market “Sound of Freedom.”
The film became a massive hit, grossing $210 million worldwide and allowing the studio to pay back its investors plus 20%.
Earlier this year, former president Donald Trump announced that he would work to give child traffickers the death penalty if re-elected in 2024.
“I will immediately end the Biden border nightmare that traffickers are using to exploit vulnerable women and children,” Trump said.
