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