File this under the best news you haven’t heard much (if anything) about.
Since Jan. 20 – the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as president – law enforcement authorities have arrested more than 1,500 people for sex crimes ranging from sex trafficking to pedophilia.
At first glance, that might seem like bad news, until you realize that according to the FBI, in all of 2014, there were less than 400 sex trafficking-related arrests.
In other words, it’s not that sex crimes are on the rise – it’s that the enforcement of sex crime laws have become a priority.
Think about how many people – many of them children – won’t be sold for sex because of these arrests.
Why isn’t the media covering this?
I can only assume it’s because of the media’s open opposition to President Donald Trump.
And that’s a shame, because if there’s an issue where the Right, Center and Left should be able to find common ground, it’s human trafficking. It’s an evil that goes beyond partisanship and politics. It’s an issue that should bring together people from across the ideological spectrum to condemn it – and to fight it.
This is something I know from experience, because I’ve worked to help pass a human trafficking law here in Colorado – and I’ve done that work with a man who I have serious disagreements with on many important issues.
Ted Trimpa is the man I’ve worked with – and he’s even become a friend. But make no mistake about it, we rarely see eye-to-eye on issues.
Ted’s based in Denver, a little over an hour north of Focus on the Family. He’s a talented political strategist and LGBT activist who dedicates his life to advancing issues on the Left – many of the very things I oppose as a conservative Christian family advocate.
Our differences even go beyond core issues. For example, Ted’s a fine-dining connoisseur and I’m more of a burgers-and-fries kind of guy. He enjoys rooftop gardening, and I watch football.
And yet, despite all these differences, we both oppose human trafficking. And our desire to create more legal protections for victims of these heinous acts was enough to bring us together politically for that purpose.
And it’s a good thing that political opponents can work together to combat this modern-day slavery, because the work isn’t done.
Take Backpage.com – the free classifieds business that actively helped pimps traffic children – as an example. Just this weekend, the New York Times reported that while Backpage’s sex ads are gone, child trafficking is not. (I recently blogged about Backpage.com, if you want to learn more. Also, our own Citizen Magazine ran a lengthy feature on the issue this month.)
The bottom line is this: it’s very challenging to stamp out this crime, because the fight against child sex trafficking is “one against a relentless foe that quickly unfurls new tentacles.”
That’s why we can’t afford to play partisan games on human trafficking. If both the Left and the Right are against it, then let’s give praise where praise is due, hold leaders accountable, and come together to work on eradicating this evil.
I’d like to hear from you: What do you think about the media silence on the recent increase arrests on sex crimes? Let me know what you think in the comments section, below.
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