The Trump White house is continuing its aggressive take-down of human trafficking rings across the nation. Now, Ivanka Trump and Attorney General William Barr have announced $100 million to combat human trafficking in the United States. It is believed to be the largest effort ever begun by any administration.
Trump, who is a senior advisor to her father President Trump, and Barr announced that the federal government is providing the funding in the form of grants to organizations in hundreds of communities that are focused on stopping human trafficking and who provide housing and services to the victims.
Speaking at the U.S. attorney’s office in downtown Atlanta, Barr said the funding would be divided between local, tribal and state jurisdictions. “We’ve marshaled all our forces to fight this criminal activity and to do what we can to help the survivors,” Barr said.
In August, President Trump had made $35 million available to the organizations.
“This is one of the top enforcement priorities of the department and we’re on the forefront of this fight,” Barr said. “It’s only by cooperating with all our partners, our state and local partners and those in the private sector, that we’re going to be able to make any progress and ultimately end the victimization of those boys and girls.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and his wife toured the Atlanta, Georgia Center for Child Advocacy where Trump and Barr made the announcement.
“I can promise you we will stay in the fight to end modern-day slavery,” the governor said, “with all of the folks at this table and those who are not and that are out there working away right now.”
Georgia was the site where 39 children were recently rescued by the Trump administration from traffickers.
Several high-profile Christians attended a roundtable discussion hosted by Trump. Those included former NFL player Tim Tebow and his wife Demi-Leigh. Tebow and his wife recently expanded the focus of the Tim Tebow Foundation to include human trafficking, due in part to what his father experienced while preaching abroad.
“The reason why we got into this was because eight years ago, my dad was preaching in a remote country, and there were four girls that he was next to that were being sold, and he took out all the money out of his wallet — which was $1,250 — and he bought those four girls,” Tebow shared.
Watch the meeting here:
“Then, he called me and said, ‘I just bought four girls and I’m not really sure what to do now.’ And I said, ‘That’s okay, Dad, we’ve got your back.’”
Tebow has currently raised more than $725,000 of a $1,000,000 goal for this new program.
On his GoFundMe page, Tebow said, “I can’t help but feel that we are at a point in history where we cannot stand silently and passively watch as evil rages on. It’s time for Christians around the world to take a stand, to raise our voices and say no more. No more will we allow girls and boys, many of whom are just children, to be bought and sold as if they were just products for someone else’s personal gain. Every person on this earth is created in the image of God – uniquely, beautifully, and perfectly. Their value is priceless, and they are not for sale.”
–Dwight Wdaman | Metro Voice