"Operation Underground Railroad" Fights Child Sex Trafficking: Controversial "Sound Of Freedom" Film Released

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Called by God

.....In 2014, I went on a vigilante raid to “save” kids sold for sex. What we did haunts me now.....I’d never heard of Operation Underground Railroad when its founder, Tim Ballard, called me suddenly in the summer of 2014. A former Department of Homeland Security special agent, Ballard said OUR had a child-trafficking sting planned for the Dominican Republic—and he wanted me to come along to document it......Ballard explained the mission of the organization to me like this: Children in other countries were being trafficked. Local governments were overwhelmed or complicit. And the U.S. government was unwilling to jeopardize diplomatic relationships to rescue local underage victims. Ballard said he knew how to rescue these kids. He told me he’d been called to this work by God.....(A representative for Operation Underground Railroad replied to detailed questions for this article: “Slate is rehashing old claims from nearly seven years ago during Operation Underground Railroad’s first year in operation. As any other successful organization does, we have evolved and are continuously working to professionally improve our standard operating methods and practices.”)

.....The traffickers thought we were Americans looking to have a sex party with underage girls.....I was the youngest person, and the only woman, on the “jump,” as they called it. A camera crew filmed everything, because Ballard seemed to intend to pitch a TV series about his anti-trafficking efforts, and they needed footage. The production company was based in Utah but reportedly had Hollywood royalty interested: Gerald Molen, the Oscar-winning producer of films like Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. This was a rescue mission, but it was also reality TV.....Members of the OUR jump team found people willing to traffic kids and set up a date to “party” with however many kids they could provide, the more the better. The authorities were told where and when the party was happening. When they arrived, the girls would be sent outside, where I would be with them, while Ballard and the traffickers would stay inside. The police planned to wait outside until the OUR team had undercover footage of a trafficker accepting upfront cash for sex with the kids. After the cash changed hands, Ballard would give a signal, and the authorities would rush the house to make arrests. They would be armed.....

......The kids arrived in a bus with their traffickers the next day. There were 26 of them. They were young, middle school–to–high school age. I’d been asked to blow up balloons so the house had a party atmosphere. Many of the kids looked like they’d gotten ready for a middle school dance. I met them outside by the pool and handed out sodas. Some kids started singing; others started swimming.....Ballard sat inside with the traffickers, supposedly negotiating the price for the services each girl would provide. An operative opened the back door and called to me: “Meg, Tim wants you inside.”....Then he gave the signal. The raid started. I ran to the back door, where I was confronted by a local police officer brandishing a gun. I was told to get on the floor. The cameras were rolling for the hoped-for TV show...... I wrote an article for Huffington Post about Ballard’s heroics and the children’s new hope. When OUR released its first documentary, I attended the premiere. Before the movie started, everyone in the audience who’d participated in a “jump” was asked to stand up. I stood up. The crowd applauded..... That drama, and a real desire to save children, moves a lot of donors, whether or not it’s accurate. .... Operation Underground Railroad made a video of the raid I went on and posted it to its YouTube channel. It’s still there. You can see the terrified housekeeper when she opens the door to a man with a gun, me lying on the floor while police pace around me, and Ballard winking at the camera. The video ends with the line, “26 victims liberated, 8 traffickers arrested....”

https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/sex-trafficking-raid-operation-underground-railroad.html

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Tim Ballard’s Controversial Operation Underground Railroad Under Criminal Investigation In Utah

.....A controversial nonprofit group named Operation Underground Railroad that claims to save human trafficking victims around the world is under criminal investigation by a Utah prosecutor. A Davis County attorney named Troy Rawlings.... apparently posted on Instagram urging individuals to question any nonprofit that claims to be doing the work of law enforcement. This post implied that the complaints against Operation Underground Railroad suggest that the organization could be conducting illegal fundraising efforts by taking credit for the work of certified law enforcement officials. “…any individual, entity or organization who solicits your money and may be claiming credit for work to protect children that is actually done by our task force and/or other law-enforcement organizations in Utah and around the world. Get the details before parting with your cash… They have had absolutely zero involvement in any of these arrests and successful prosecutions you see on display on the ‘Wall of Shame’ in the Davis County Attorney’s Office,” Rawlings apparently wrote on Instagram, as reported by Salt Lake City’s Fox 13 Now....

....Operation Underground Railroad is credited as one of the biggest anti human-trafficking organizations in the United States, and saw a viral rise to fame this summer after its founder, Tim Ballard, made public comments about human trafficking after a conspiracy theory about Wayfair went viral in July. The conspiracy theory alleged that Wayfair retailers had been using the website to traffic kidnapped children by selling them as expensive pieces of furniture online. The company denied the allegations, but the conspiracy theory spread like wildfire and even helped integrate QAnon—another conspiracy theory that focuses on human-trafficking—into the mainstream....In the wake of the Wayfair scandal, Ballard posted a video on Youtube to clarify some information about what human trafficking might look like. The video, which has over fifty thousand views on the platform, helped catapult Operation Underground Railroad into the mainstream discourse just before the nonprofit had hosted a major fundraising event online—complete with celebrity appearances and the announcement that founder Ballard was the subject of a new biographical film. Other efforts from the organization offer guidance on recognizing trafficking victims from the prevalence of certain tattoos to the way a suspected victim might behave in public.....

....The organization, however, denies that there is an investigation going on. An attorney for Operation Underground Railroad revealed to Fox 13 Now that the organization had not been made aware of any investigation thus far. “Today, I spoke with the Davis County Attorney and was informed there is no investigation into Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.),” said the attorney, Adam Becker, in a statement.....According to the 501(c)(3) nonprofit’s financial records, the organization held a thirty million dollar valuation in 2019. Its founder, Tim Ballard, says that he stopped receiving a salary from the organization in 2019 as well after receiving criticism in the past for his alleged huge salary. The organization claims to have helped 3,319 victims between the years of 2018 and 2019, but many other human trafficking rescue organizations and resources have criticized Operation Underground Railroad for its vague description on what, exactly, it did to help.....

......Operation Underground Railroad, which advertises that it partners with local law enforcement to conduct “raids” on trafficking operations—often in developing countries, has been criticized specifically for its touting of quality aftercare without being able to back up those claims with concrete evidence. “There are multiple organizations with this type of model, and there are some serious critiques of the search and rescue model of anti-trafficking organizations....” 

https://gritdaily.com/operation-underground-railroad-tim-ballard/

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....Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is a United States-based, anti-sex trafficking nonprofit organization founded by Tim Ballard in 2013 ....Ballard claimed that prior to founding O.U.R. he served 12 years as a U.S. Special Agent for the Department of Homeland Security, on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) and the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team. According to The Atlantic, "spokespeople for the CIA and DHS said they could not confirm Ballard's employment record without his written permission, which he did not provide...."

....According to Ballard, he was frustrated with the lack of strategies employed to rescue kidnapped and trafficked children in underdeveloped nations, and the inability to prosecute offenders in non-U.S. related cases... Subsequently, he left government service in October 2013 to found Operation Underground Railroad....He also trained Imperial County Sheriff’s Office personnel in the use of data mining software, which eventually led to the arrest of a man suspected of distributing child pornography....On March 6, 2019, Ballard was called to testify before the US Senate Judiciary Committee concerning US-Mexico border security and its relation to child sex trafficking.....

.....In 2014, O.U.R. participated in a sting operation in Cartagena, Colombia..... In April 2022, O.U.R. participated in an anti-trafficking summit in Cartagena, Colombia....In 2022, O.U.R. also provided investigative and undercover support in the arrests of pro-pedophilia activists Nelson Maatman, who fled to Mexico, and Marthijn Uittenbogaard and his partner, who both fled to Ecuador.....In August 2022, O.U.R. supported an operation in the Dominican Republic involving raids, the arrest of 14 suspects, and over 200 law enforcement agents...Between 2015 and 2018, O.U.R. donated more than $170,000 to Washington State Patrol's "Net Nanny" sting program. ....O.U.R. bought over 50 dogs trained to detect electronic storage devices from Jordan Detection K9 and donated them to police departments in several U.S. states and Thailand.....

....A September 2020 Vice News article called O.U.R. a "QAnon-adjacent charity," and said the "organization has embraced followers of that particular baseless conspiracy theory, rather than condemning it the way that other anti-trafficking charities have"—even though the organization claims no association with the group, and its website "vaguely disavows conspiracy theories." The Vice article quoted Ballard telling The New York Times a month prior, "Some of these theories have allowed people to open their eyes. So now it's our job to flood the space with real information so the facts can be shared." A spokesperson for O.U.R told Vice that they're "not affiliated with the group QAnon in any way, shape or form, and to date we have had no interaction with them.".....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Underground_Railroad

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Lionsgate Studio Is Releasing Another Faith-Based Film - Is This the Next 'Jesus Revolution'?

.....Faith-based films are making a comeback, and now another one is in the works, with the potential to be another big hit. On Tuesday, Deadline reported that the studio Lionsgate had announced an April 2024 release date for its upcoming film “Unsung Hero.” “Unsung Hero” tells the true story of David Smallbone, who moves to the U.S. from Australia with his wife, Helen, and their seven children after the collapse of his music company. As the family works to rebuild their lives, Helen relies on her Christian faith to get through the tough time and inspires her husband and children to do the same. Three of David and Helen’s children would go on to become successful Christian artists, with sons Joel and Luke forming the group For King & Country and one of their daughters performing as Rebecca St. James.....

....“Unsung Hero” comes on the heels of another faith-based movie produced by Lionsgate’s Kingdom Story Company — “Jesus Revolution,” about a revivalist ministry in the 1970s. The film smashed expectations at the box office, bringing in over $50 million during its five weeks in theaters.....Considering it had a budget of just $15 million, “Jesus Revolution” was a definite hit for Lionsgate, so it’s no surprise the studio is returning to that well.....Lionsgate was not the only studio to see massive success with a Christian film this year. “Jesus Revolution” no doubt set the stage for “Sound of Freedom,” which tells the true story of one man’s mission to save children from sex trafficking. Despite being another low-budget production, “Sound of Freedom” topped many big films at the box office to become the No. 1 movie in America.....

https://www.westernjournal.com/lionsgate-studio-releasing-another-faith-based-film-next-jesus-revolution/

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