Founder of group that saves kids from sex trafficking to speak in Rexburg
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REXBURG — The founder of a group that rescues children from sex trafficking will be visiting east Idaho this Friday.
Tim Ballard runs Operation Underground Railroad and will speak in Rexburg about the threat of human trafficking.
Operation Underground Railroad is a non-profit agency that organizes missions to save children from the sex trafficking trade.
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According to the organization’s website, Ballard founded Operation Underground Railroad in January 2014 after retiring from his job with the United States Department of Homeland Security.
While working for the government, Ballard began rescuing children from sex slavery at the same time the U.S. Government formed anti-human trafficking units in 2001.
Over the course of ten years, Ballard went undercover posing as a pedophile in order to develop connections inside trafficking rings. Through these covert sting missions he has successfully busted dozens of trafficking operations.
Doug Osmond, O.U.R. director of creative and cooperative partnerships, said the human trafficking industry is the largest growing criminal enterprise on the planet. Osmond said two million children all over the world are being sold for sex.
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“It is now 2016 and enough is enough,” Osmond said. “No human being should ever be owned by another human being. Children shouldn’t be sold for sex. No one should.”
Savannah Harker, O.U.R. volunteer and the Rexburg event organizer, said rescuers with O.U.R. go to great lengths to successfully save children.
“They’re such a selfless group of people that are willing to sacrifice their lives and their families to help these children,” Harker said. “I’m so inspired by that.”
Harker looks up to Ballard and the heroic work that he and his group are doing all over the world.
“There’s not enough words to tell him how much he inspires me,” Harker said.
Osmond says O.U.R. has operated in 16 countries and works with local governments to rescue and secure rehabilitation opportunities for victims of sex trafficking.
The free community event will be held 7:00 p.m. on Mar. 11 at the Rexburg Tabernacle. Following the event, a question and answer session will be held.
To know more on the Rexburg event go to its Facebook page.