http://www.assistnews.net/google_map.asp?place=RIVERSIDE, CA - RIVERSIDE, CA (ANS) -- In a coordinated operation, the FBI rescued more than 100 teen sex trafficking victims -- one victim was just 9-years-old. The majority were girls between 13 and 17. The raids, which included the arrest of 150 pimps point to the growing trade in human sex trafficking in the United States.

The FBI go into action

The raids took place in 70 cities around the U.S. It is the largest recovery operation of sexually exploited children.

But according to one expert, this is just the tip of the iceberg. According to Kathi Macias, the author of “Deliver Me From Evil” (New Hope), “Sex trafficking is the second largest illegal activity in the world behind illegal drugs.”

It was not until she began investigating the extent of the problem that Macias decided she had to get involved. “I spoke with an investigative journalist for the San Diego Tribune who said in twenty years of doing this research he’s never seen such atrocities.”

Book cover

As people of faith, Macias believes we have two obligations: to protect and to educate. Most people, she says, have no idea what’s going on, often within their own communities. With the proliferation of Internet sites that exploit children, sex trade is the natural byproduct.

The U.S. State Department estimates as many as 100,000 girls are brought to the U.S. every year for the purpose of sexual slavery. The majority of these girls were abused as children and most come from South America, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet Union.

Worldwide, the problem is much bigger. India alone has as many as 1.2 million girls in prostitution. Tragically, an estimated 30,000 die annually through abuse, torture, neglect, or disease. “The sex trade is every bit as bad or worse than drug trafficking” but few people know the extent of it says Macias.

She puts a real face on the issue of sex trafficking and offers readers a glimpse into an industry that is growing in numbers and in brutality but does so in an easy-to-read format. More important, she helps us see what we need to do to help eradicate an industry that destroys lives.