Loren Lippincott represents Legislative District 34 in the Nebraska State Senate. Read his column in the Nance County Journal.
‘Recently I watched the movie “The Sound of Freedom,” which, appropriately enough, was released on Independence Day. The movie bested the Indiana Jones movie that week, which says Americans long for movies that are true life stories of good triumphing over evil. The movie portrayed an American government official who tracked down a kidnapped young son and daughter. The children’s father was tricked by a woman who told him the kids were attending a day-long audition for parts in a movie. When the father came to pick them up at the end of the day, he found only an empty building.
The American agent, played by Jim Caviezel, went to great lengths to recover the children.
The movie will leave you sober, saddened, and distraught at the depths of the depravity of mankind.
The true story the film is based on took place beyond our southern border. We tell ourselves those things do not happen here, but they do! We have even had several incidents of human trafficking in the 34th Legislative District recently!
Twenty-seven percent of those trafficked are children. They are mostly used for labor, but some are sold as sex slaves. Of the children trafficked, 66 percent are girls.
Overall, Nebraska has seen 92 prosecutions for human trafficking for labor and sex slavery, with 88 of those prosecutions in just the past seven years. Furthermore, this is happening more often, aided and abetted by the current administration’s loose open-border policies. Since President Biden took office, the number of illegals crossing our southern border has increased fivefold.
According to Customs and Border Patrol agents, nearly 2.5 million illegals cross our border yearly.
According to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Operational Data Simulation (performed one million times), there are now 16-29 million illegals in the United States. In Biden’s first five months alone, five million illegals crossed our southern border, and soon one tenth of our entire population will consist of illegals.
Reports show many of these individuals are single, military age men, inmates from foreign prisons, gang members, known terrorists, and unaccompanied minors. Many women are raped during their journey to illegal entry into our country.
During my time at Delta Airlines, based in Atlanta, Georgia — home of the world’s busiest airport — the company would brief us on what to look for in passengers who were possibly trafficking minors or young adults on our aircraft.
The flight attendants would be vigilant in looking for anything suspicious while serving the customers. Though I never encountered this on one of my flights, I knew of traffickers apprehended from other Delta flights.
Trafficking is a despicable and reprehensible crime!
Forcibly abusing another person against their will for your pleasure or profit is heinous.
What can you, as an individual American do? Keep your eyes and ears open for suspicious behavior that might suggest enslavement.
Worldwide, slavery is more widespread now than at any time in history. Our borders are extremely porous, and we are a marketplace with money. Our State Attorney General Mike Hilgers has set up a Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888. Don’t hesitate to call it if you see something suspicious.
Consider joining the ministry of helping trafficked people get back on their feet after being set free. You can volunteer with the State Department of Health and Human Services at 402-471-3121.
But to start with, get informed. Make it a point to see The Sound of Freedom while it is playing in local theaters. It is well worth watching. In the closing credits of the movie, Caviezel tells of the struggle Angel Studios had in bringing the movie to theaters. It took five years of fighting marketplace forces that did not want the truth of this movie to be shown to Americans. This film clearly shows the anguish of children being separated from their families and the evils of those who enslave them. But it also shows how one brave and courageous man, empowered and guided by the hand of God, can prevail against the odds.
Loren Lippincott represents Legislative District 34 in the Nebraska State Senate. Read his column in the Nance County Journal.