Hearing the truth about sex trafficking

Don’t thank Hollywood for “Sound of Freedom.”

The movie, about a former Homeland Security agent who goes to Colombia and rescues more than 50 kids from child sex traffickers, is an action-thriller – a drama.

But it is based closely on the true story of Tim Ballard and his personal fight against one of the planet’s most evil and profitable criminal activities – human sex trafficking.

“Sound of Freedom” was actually finished in 2018. But because it couldn’t get Netflix or a major studio in Hollywood to distribute it, it was independently financed by a Utah-based studio that specializes in religious projects.

Since it was released nation-wide on July 4, it has pulled in more than $50 million and become the surprise hit of the summer.

Variety’s critic called it “a compelling movie that shines an authentic light on one of the crucial criminal horrors of our time, one that Hollywood has mostly shied away from.”

But predictably, leftwing places like Rolling Stone, the Guardian and Slate have ripped “Sound of Freedom” for political reasons.

Instead of addressing the movie’s serious issue, they’ve discredited and smeared its deeply religious star, Jim Caviezel, who in 2004 played Jesus in “The Passion of Christ.”

They’ve charged Caviezel with parroting and/or agreeing with the conspiratorial ideas of QAnon, the rightwing fringe group that believes there’s a global cabal of elites in politics and business who traffic in children so they can sexually molest them.

In case you think trafficking humans for sex or forced labor is not a real-world problem, here’s what the United Nations’ website says:

“Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.

“Men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world ...

“Human trafficking has many forms. These include exploitation in the sex, entertainment and hospitality industries, and as domestic workers or in forced marriages.

“Victims are forced to work in factories, on construction sites or in the agricultural sector without pay or with an inadequate salary, living in fear of violence and often in inhumane conditions.

“Some victims are tricked or coerced into having their organs removed. Children are forced to serve as soldiers or to commit crimes for the benefit of the criminals.”

Human trafficking affects millions. It’s a $150 billion global industry that disproportionately affects women and girls under 18 – more than half of whom are forced into the sex trade.

But the left and the liberal media have no desire to find out why the U.S. has become the world’s largest consumer of human trafficking “products.”

They don’t want to learn how much of that shameful distinction is a result of our wide-open Southern border or our horrible foster care system, which has become a pipeline to human trafficking of every kind.

And it’s been clear for several years that the mainstream media aren’t interested in exposing the rich and powerful men who were frequent flyers to Epstein Island or who go on expensive junkets to foreign countries to have sex with kids.

As someone who as a child of eight was molested by a pedophile who also took photos of me, I’ve done as much as I can as an adult to fight against the sexual abuse of children.

I’ll definitely see “Sound of Freedom” and I don’t care what the left says.

By focusing on the filmmakers’ conservative origins and openly Christian spin, they are trying to discredit an important film about victims of sexual trafficking by attacking the people who made it.

I also don’t care what the actor playing the hero believes or says.

I care that the real hero – Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad – is spending his life saving the innocent lives of real children in the real world.

Copyright 2023 Michael Reagan, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation. Send comments to [email protected] and follow @reaganworld on Twitter.