EVANSTON — The Wyoming Public Health Association held its 2018 Annual Education Conference in Evanston last month. The focus of a session on Sept. 27 was human trafficking. Tyler Schwab of Operation Underground Railroad (OUR) in Salt Lake City led the session, which was held at the Roundhouse.

Schwab has degrees in Spanish and healthcare administration, and he is currently pursuing an MBA. His personal story began when he was on a church mission to the Dominican Republic. One day he saw a very young girl, about 10 or 11 years old, who was dressed provocatively and was being kissed and fondled by a very old man that Schwab guessed to be in his 70s. 

Schwab said he couldn’t get that scene out of his mind and when he finished college, at 22 years of age, he went back to the Dominican Republic and, with a local partner, founded an organization he called Gifts of Grace. They worked to rescue children from slavery and reunite them with their families.

Through that program, they collaborated with other agencies and raised funds to provide school uniforms and birth certificates so children could attend schools. When girls are attending school, Schwab said, they are less vulnerable.

In 2013, they helped 34 girls to get an education. Gifts of Grace has now expanded into other countries and is still in operation, though Schwab has moved on to work with OUR in its aftercare program.

What is human trafficking? It is forced labor and/or sexual exploitation. What causes it? Like any industry it is all about supply and demand. The demand for human slaves is great across the world.

Human trafficking is a $32-billion-a-year industry, and the fastest growing industry in the world. It is estimated that there are 27 to 40 million modern-day slaves. Every 30 seconds a child is sold into slavery.

According to OUR, there are 2 million children in sex trafficking in the world with 300,000 of those in the United States. The United States is the largest producer and consumer of child pornography.   

“Americans are buying children,” Schwab said. “There are three main reasons that children are lured by sex traffickers: lack of education, poverty and the breakdown of the family.”

He went on to explain how the children are either stolen, forced, coerced or are taken through fraud. A parent may be tricked by being told by the trafficker that he will provide education and training and get their child a great job to help the family. In some of the worst cases, the parent might even sell their child because of extreme poverty. Also, children themselves are recruited online through social media by being offered modeling jobs or other false promises.  

Tim Ballard, founder and director of Operation Underground Railroad, formerly worked for the Department of Homeland Security for 12 years but became frustrated when he wanted to rescue children and couldn’t because of the “red tape.” So he left his job and started OUR.  

When Ballard first founded the organization, he found a donor friend in television personality Glen Beck.  The organization refers to Beck as their “godfather” as he was the first donor. Tony Robbins, author and life coach, and Mike Tomlin, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, are also donors and consistent supporters of the organization.

Ballard goes undercover and pretends to want to buy children and meets with traffickers and their slaves. He alerts local police in the country, and when they are making a deal the police raid and rescue the children. Through his daring efforts Ballard and his staff have rescued hundreds of children and have seen many traffickers arrested.  

One child that he has consistently searched for has yet to be found. In Utah, Ballard met a Haitian minister whose 2-year-old son had been stolen. After a bust in Haiti where 27 girls were rescued, Ballard told the man that once again he had failed to find the minister’s son. 

The father tearfully responded, “If I have to lose my son so 27 other children can be saved that’s a burden I’m willing to bear for the rest of my life.”

The OUR organization is working in nine states with local law enforcement to provide training on what signs to look for in possible victims of sexual trafficking. The signs include: a lack of knowledge regarding where they are, tattoos that look like branding, multiple bruises, large debts; they are fearful and tense and can’t come and go by themselves.

Bars on windows where they live could be a sign, and an unusual number of cars coming and going at a residence or at dance halls, bars, brothels, hotels and truck stops could also be a sign of trafficking. Often, the children will end up in a medical facility and can get help there if the signs are recognized. Law enforcement officers also use dogs that have been trained to sniff out hidden USB ports that may have pornography on them.  

The Aftercare program of OUR, provides supportive services for the healing process. The goals of the program are to reunite the families if possible, give shelter, offer choices and foster collaboration with other care providers. The program also partners with Utah State University and Mentors International where the girls are given business courses and then provided with micro-financing to begin their own businesses so they become self-sufficient.

Schwab concluded his presentation by showing parts of a documentary with scenes from rescues and arrests of traffickers and a few survivor stories.

“Sex trafficking happens everywhere,” Schwab said. “In February of 2018, a trafficker was arrested right here in Evanston and just this month, a girl from Wyoming was rescued in Colorado from a trafficker who had promised her a modeling job.

“What can you do?” he continued. “You can know the signs, educate others, talk with your leaders, volunteer to help and donate to Operation Underground Railroad.”