WASHINGTON—Hundreds of thousands of people head to the United States every year in search of a better life, many by paying a smuggler thousands of dollars to get them in the back door—across the southwest border illegally. Others, as in the recent bust of a sex-trafficking ring in Florida, are lured by temporary work visas and then forced into servitude.

A smuggler often promises a better life in the United States, a job, or maybe even a love interest, said Greg Nevano, assistant director of ICE Homeland Security Investigations’ investigative programs.

“Many times, you’ll see parents [who] want their children to have a better life … send their child along with a friend, a cousin,” he said.

“And along the route—which is a long journey to the United States—the smugglers will then exploit the children. They’ll say, if you don’t pay us additional money, or if you do not perform these types of activities—some of which are sexual activity, some of them could be forced labor—we will kill your family back home.”

The scope of the problem is mind-boggling, going by a recent estimate by expert Timothy Ballard.

Ballard, founder of the anti-trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad, said that as many as 10,000 children are trafficked into the United States every year to be used as sex slaves. Nevano concurs with Ballard’s estimate.

Previously, Ballard spent more than 12 years working as a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations in its child trafficking unit.

He recounted a story of a 13-year-old girl from Central America who was kidnapped from her village, then trafficked into the United States across an unpatrolled part of the southwest border.

She was taken to New York City. “This little girl—and this is very typical—was raped for money every day, 30 to 40 times a day,” Ballard said during a White House roundtable on Feb. 1.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/smugglers-extort-thousands-of-child-migrants-into-prostitution_2820027.html

California state officials are threatening to evict 84-year-old widow from a Veterans Home unless she shuts down her Bible studies.

Artis Breau has led the Bible studies for much of the last decade.

Now she may be homeless.

Pacific Justice Institute reported:

Officials with the California Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) are threatening to evict an 84-year-old widow from the California Veterans Home unless she halts longtime Bible studies she has been leading for fellow residents.

Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) represents Artis Breau, the widow who has come under fire. Artis and her late husband moved to the Veterans Home about nine years ago. Her husband had served as a Merchant Marine in World War II, served in the famed 82nd Airborne Division overseas, and then served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Meanwhile, Artis worked as a civilian employee in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army at the Pentagon during the Korean War.

For much of the past decade, Artis has volunteered with the chaplaincy program and led Bible studies in the Home. She began encountering opposition from officials last September when it was claimed that a discussion between herself and another resident about heaven and hell had allegedly caused him to lose sleep and therefore was elder abuse, emotional abuse, and otherwise illegal.

In mid-December, the Home notified Artis that her volunteer status was being suspended indefinitely due to the ongoing investigation. Nearly three months later, CalVet has yet to schedule an interview with Artis about the alleged complaint; yet she remains barred from volunteering in any official role. However, until this past week she had been permitted to continue leading Bible studies for some of the Home’s most elderly and mobility-challenged residents—many of whom cannot get to chapel services.

On Friday, March 1, PJI received an alarming e-mail from an attorney for CalVet, claiming Artis’ Bible studies were in violation of prior directives and would subject her to “involuntary discharge” from the Home if they continued.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/84-year-old-widow-threatened-with-eviction/