If you still think child trafficking happens in other countries, here's your wake-up call:
In suburban Washington DC, a man was just sentenced to life in prison for prostituting a 12-year-old girl to clients throughout northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Jose Ciro Juarez-Santamaria, 24, an illegal alien from El Salvador, would take this little girl to locations where customers would be lined up waiting for her. And there's lots more horror that I won't even go into.
Remember, this didn't happen across the globe but across the street And this is by far not an isolated event. He just got caught.
The healing process begins
“With today’s sentence Mr. Juarez-Santamaria will spend the rest of his life behind bars," said Neil MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, "while his child victim will spend the rest of her life working through the pain he inflicted.
"Through aggressive efforts by the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force, we’re working together to fight this reprehensible form of exploitation," MacBride added.
Hats off to the coalition of law enforcement and non-profit agencies that got the job done--"the aggressive efforts by the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force."
My organization, Born to Fly, is a member of the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, and I know firsthand what a powerful combination it is when local law enforcement, non-profits, faith-based organizations, children's agencies, and just plain interested citizens all work together.
You can read the Department of Justice report here: MS-13 Gang Member Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex Trafficking a Child.
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