Tim Tebow Testifies a Senate Hearing on Child Trafficking

[0:00] good morning chairman holly ranking member durbin distinguished members of the committee [0:04] thank you so much for having me it's an honor and really a privilege and humbling to be here [0:08] with all of you miss julia mastasia yasmin and miss jane um it really is humbling and [0:14] feel unworthy to be sitting beside all of you so thank you so much for your work [0:18] as you mentioned i'm i'm so blessed to be a part of the tim teo foundation and we exist to bring [0:24] faith open love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need but to really sum [0:28] it up it's to fight for people that can't fight for themselves and i believe that's exactly why [0:33] we're here today several years ago we were finishing a leadership meeting and i looked at camille our [0:40] vp of anti-human trafficking and child exploitation and she had a very sober look on her face and i [0:45] said camille what is it what's what's breaking your heart and she wrote down the number 20 000 and i [0:51] said camille 20 000 what and she said 20 000 boys and girls that's the best guess of what law enforcement [0:58] can see and rape and abuse images but yet they're categorized as unknown unidentified so that led us [1:05] to a meeting in leon france with hsi fbi interpol europol nick mick google onimi and 18 other countries [1:16] to find out okay what actually is the closest thing to the truth and it wasn't 20 000 it was 57 000 boys and [1:23] girls in the icsa database that have yet to be identified and that led us to renewed hope one two [1:28] and three which identified over 1100 boys and girls and over 550 of them have been safeguarded so far [1:35] and right now 30 minutes away at c3 the cyber crime center which is just so many of the best [1:42] investigators and agents that america has to offer they really are incredible we just came from there [1:46] and i just want to thank them because they are the tip of the spear and the best of the best and right [1:51] now the biggest operation ever in the fight against child exploitation is taking place with 30 countries [1:57] 34 agencies 94 investigators and victim identification specialists and hopefully it will be one of the [2:04] biggest operations ever in history but the problem is that the number now is not 57 000 with all of the [2:15] work that all of these people and amazing law enforcement agents and non-profit ngos are doing all [2:20] around the world the number is not 57 000 like we said two years ago it's over 89 000 we are losing the [2:27] battle and we are losing the war and boys and girls are suffering for it and to give you an idea of the [2:32] scope of what's happening in america there's a red dot map right over there over my right shoulder and [2:38] that's just a six-month screenshot of the u.s and every red dot that is on there is someone that is [2:45] downloading sharing or distributing child rape images almost all under the age of 12 and there's [2:51] over 330 of them just in that six-month screenshot and we know that 55 to 85 percent of them are also [3:00] hands-on offenders and we know your average offender has 13 victims in their lifetime the scale of harm [3:06] right here in america is to a certain extent hard to comprehend but that's why we're here and when you [3:15] knock down one of those doors you also have no idea how many boys and girls you're going to find [3:20] from operation renewed hope one one of the doors that was knocked down when they went in and seized [3:25] his computer they found that he also had raped 30 other boys and girls in that neighborhood so there's [3:32] a lot of work to do and ranking member durman you're right we have to be able to act a little over [3:38] a year ago i was at one of our protection centers and a protection center has extra security because [3:44] there's still a bounty and a price on these girls and young women's lives and i was walking through [3:48] the counseling rooms and i walk up to one of the counseling rooms and there's this beautiful couch [3:54] and it's got teddy bears and toys and children's books in it and right behind the couch there's a [4:01] window and right behind the window is the wall and it's the edge of the protection center i look up to [4:06] the top of the wall and it's the razor wire all the way around the top and i'm just looking at this [4:11] picture it's a surreal picture because inside those girls are going to be cherished and loved [4:17] and protected and cared for but on the outside they went through an earthly form of hell and i'm [4:22] standing there looking at this picture and one of our team members comes and and whispers in my ear [4:27] as i'm looking at this picture and he said man isn't it such a thin line between tortured and treasured [4:36] and he was right it is a thin line between tortured and treasured and you are that thin line and all of [4:45] you are that thin line but we have to have more people on that line and we have to do a whole lot [4:50] more and we have to do it faster because every day we wait they're suffering they're crying and [4:55] i believe right now many of them are praying that we would respond but how are we really going to [5:00] respond because i ultimately also believe that this is what we're called to do and what is calling me [5:05] and in my opinion the best definition is an urgent and divine invitation to accept responsibility for [5:10] a particular task but the question is will we actually accept the responsibility of caring for [5:15] these boys and girls and truly protecting them or are we just going to continue to talk about it because [5:19] there's so much we can do but the question is will we thank you for having me and thank you for letting [5:24] me be a part