Heartbreaking images of minors at the southern border – alone and holding only a piece of paper in their hands – have become tragically famous. According to the Border Patrol, since President Biden took office in 2021, nearly 540,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended at the southern border. A lot of those kids fall prey to sex traffickersfaced with unimaginable conditions and exploitation.
Fox News recently spoke with a 20-year-old sex-trafficking survivor, whose identity we have agreed to withhold for his safety. He still lives in fear that the kidnappers will find him. Smuggled from South America to Mexico and then across the border, he was finally rescued at the age of 18 and brought to Bob’s House of Hope.
Bob’s House of Hope is the first safe house in the country dedicated specifically to male survivors of sex trafficking. The victim shared the harrowing details of her experience: being trafficked six to eight times a day, beaten and threatened with death if she dared to speak out.
“I’ve seen good people die,” he said.
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A male migrant who survived sex trafficking speaks to Fox News. (Fox News)
Bob Williams, the founder of the safe house, was inspired to create this refuge by his own experience.
“They just feel like it only happens to girls and women,” Williams said. “And that’s a problem. It’s a stigma that we have to change. The fact is that we believe that up to 50% of victims of human trafficking are boys and men.”
Bob’s House of Hope accepts both US citizens and immigrants. It works with law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
“As a survivor, I said we’ll take anyone because these migrant children are protected by the Federal Sex Trafficking Act,” Williams explained.
Shockingly, many of the victims in Bob’s House of Hope were trafficked by their own families, who are seen as nothing more than dollar signs.
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“Most of these children are being trafficked by someone they know, whether it’s an uncle, a neighbor or someone else,” Williams noted.
Williams describes a disturbing cycle: many migrants are trafficked for labor during the day and then forced sex trade at night.
A frequent question he says he hears is: “Why can’t the boys run away?” He explains that not only are they threatened with violence, but they are also controlled through addiction, specifically fentanyl.
About $4 million worth of fentanyl seized by the LAPD sits on the table. Traffickers deliberately induce fentanyl addiction in their victims, which they then use as another method of controlling them, said Bob Williams. (LAPD)
“This fentanyl problem is so serious that it’s getting these young people hooked on drugs,” he said. “That, combined with the fear of threats to their families, is controlling.”
A recent report by the Office of the Inspector General found this out ICE lost track tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors in just the last few years. Williams has no doubt that many of these children have been trafficked.
“We know that a lot of these children have been sold by their families to gangs or human trafficking groups,” he said. “Predators prey on vulnerable children. We had a case where a young man was trying to reunite with his family in Florida and was picked up by a gang under the guise of a ride to Miami. But that ride never materialized.”
The mission of Bob’s House of Hope is to help heal the trauma these young men experienced. The program lasts four years, offers accommodation, a safe space with therapy, animals and education.
Bob Williams founded Bob’s House of Hope to help male victims of sex trafficking. (Fox News)
After graduation, their goal is to move into an independent life, equipped with a car, a job and the possibility of enrolling in college.
Landon Dickeson, Chief Operating Officer of Bob’s House of Hope and a therapist, sheds light on the challenges those young migrants face.
“They were often rejected from birth by their parents and grandparents, often sold for money to be brought to the United States for further abuse,” Dickeson explained. “They come here confused, they don’t speak the language and they have a hard time navigating our systems, which makes them incredibly vulnerable.”
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The survivor we spoke with expressed his gratitude for the sense of family and comfort he found in a safe house, and his hope for a better life.
“All I can say is don’t lose hope, don’t give up. There is always light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Williams believes that in addition to tightening of border securitythere must be tougher penalties for traffickers and complicit family members, as well as increased funding for programs like his that support victims.
