The specific stories that OUR tells are intensely cinematic: bold, heroic, and extremely difficult to fact-check. They are also not the entire truth. An investigation by VICE World News focused on OUR's operations identified a divide between the group's actual practices and some of its claimed successes. What we found aren't outright falsehoods but a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading.The specific stories that OUR tells are intensely cinematic: bold, heroic, and extremely difficult to fact-check. They are also not the entire truth.
Have you worked with Operation Underground Railroad? Do you know something we should know about the group? Contact the reporters at tim.marchman@vice.com or anna.merlan@vice.com. For additional security send a number at which we can reach you on Signal or Whatsapp to timmarchman@protonmail.com from a throwaway email account.
Reputable and widely-known organizations providing aftercare to survivors of trafficking were unfamiliar with OUR, and experts raised serious questions about the work OUR claims it does.
According to Liliana's testimony, and that of the women who were trafficked alongside her, she first met the man who would go on to traffic her in a village in Mexico when she was just about to turn 14 years old. He was at that point around 17, and wooed her romantically, she testified. "His family make me feel loved, that he care about me, that he loved me," Liliana told the court, testifying in English, her third language. "He was the first boyfriend that I had." According to Liliana, she moved in with the man and his family relatively quickly, fleeing two male relatives who had been sexually abusive. Soon, she testified, the man told her that they were moving to the United States for a better life. "He told me that we had to come to the United States because here in the United States we're going to make money, earn, to be able to provide to your family," she testified. "We will have a house and you will work for a couple of years. Then after that, we can come back and we can have kids." The pair attempted to travel to the United States twice, along with other people, and both times were caught at the border by U.S. immigration agents and returned. The third time, in October 2010, they made it across, though Liliana did not specify in her testimony how they managed to get across the border into Arizona.Liliana wasn't found or rescued by anyone: When she was just 17, and after years of rape, psychological manipulation and physical abuse, she escaped on her own.
Ballard's story diverges from Liliana's testimony here in important ways. At no point did she ever testify that she was kidnapped. (The distinction between kidnapping and what she testified to is important; one common criticism of groups like OUR is that by focusing on sensational stories like those of abducted children, they neglect the more routine realities of trafficking, which far more often involves women and girls being victimized by people to whom they're close.) He described her as slightly younger than she was, and claimed that she had been trafficked "not long ago" when it had in fact been nearly a decade. He incorrectly stated that she'd come from Central America, not Mexico. Finally, he claimed that she had been raped twice as often as the 15 to 20 times per day that Liliana and the other trafficked women testified to at trial. (Regardless of the number of times, it remains a horrifying aspect of the story, and the trauma was surely severe either way. The women testified to experiencing violence and abuse from the johns they were forced to see: One said she'd been bitten and injured by one man, and raped at gunpoint by another.)Not long ago, a 13-year-old girl from Central America – let's call her "Liliana" – was kidnapped from her village, then trafficked into the U.S. at a location where there is no wall or barrier. From there, she was taken to New York City, where she was raped by American men 30 to 40 times a day.
The private anti-trafficking organization I founded over five years ago, Operation Underground Railroad, eventually helped Liliana escape her hell.
Here, Ballard lowered Liliana's age to 11, repeated the kidnapping claim, and introduced a claim that she was groomed for two years before being trafficked, something not evidenced in court testimony. He further implied that Liliana was a "little girl" when introduced to Ivanka Trump, which she would not have been. (It's also unclear whether he is implying that Liliana was brought to the U.S. to be forced to produce child pornography, or if the existence of child exploitation material is somehow to blame for her trafficking. In either case, nothing in the court testimony suggested Liliana was forced to appear in pornography.) VICE World News contacted Ivanka Trump’s White House office for comment, but did not receive a reply.One little girl I can tell you about. In fact, I introduced this little girl to Ms. Trump during a private briefing. This little girl was kidnapped in Central America. Eleven years old. Groomed for two years with the intent of getting her ready to come to America. Why? Because we are the highest-consuming nation of child pornography. We are the clientele that's the big money.
They brought this little girl through a part of the southern border where there was no wall, easily got her to New York City. And this is hard to hear but this is the truth, and everyone needs to hear this. This little girl — and this is very typical — raped for money every day, 30 to 40 times a day. If that's not a crisis, if that's not an emergency, I don't know what is.
Liliana was kidnapped at age 11 from her village in Central America. After two years of grooming her for commercial sex, she was taken by her captors across the southern border at a location where no wall existed (approximately 70 percent of the border is wall-less). Her traffickers easily transported her to New York City, where she was raped for money up to 30-40 times a day for five years. She eventually escaped and my foundation is now caring for her as she prepares to testify in federal court against her captors. In accordance with U.S. laws, as a survivor of sex trafficking in America, Liliana has been granted legal status and will soon be a U.S. citizen. (The U.S. Attorney's Office has requested that we not share more details about this case until the trial is completed later this year).
Having reflected on her tragic plight, Liliana has recently weighed in on the current national debate. "Had there been a wall for me," she declared, "my captors would have been forced to take me to a port of entry. A U.S. officer might have seen my distress. I might have yelled out to them. I am currently working with Homeland Security agents on my case. I love them. I think they would have rescued me at the port of entry."
Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is committed to supporting survivors in their healing process from sex trafficking, abuse, and exploitation.
To this end, O.U.R. collaborates with survivors to ensure what is publicly shared about their horrific life experience is done with permission and sensitivity.
O.U.R. will always respect and honor a survivor’s confidentiality about the when, where and how any assistance or aftercare support has been provided from our organization, just as any other aftercare organization would do, in whatever form it may take.
We have explained and provided factual information to VICE to disprove the inaccurate contentions raised by them while still honoring survivors privacy and rights. Unfortunately, we have come to understand VICE’s agenda-driven objective is to comb through years of information in an effort to find any, even minor, discrepancy, and to twist anything found into a negative portrayal of an honorable organization.
In Ballard's telling, he never wanted to found Operation Underground Railroad. Fate—and, perhaps, a higher power—forced his hand. A devout Mormon, Ballard often tells interviewers that he felt called to combat the evils of child sexual abuse in a direct and far-reaching way; for religious publications, he has put it in more prophetic terms, even claiming that God told him, "Find the children." There's no doubting his personal commitment: Ballard and his wife have nine children, and he has said publicly that two of them were adopted after being rescued from trafficking in Haiti.Ballard, a California native, says that he became a CIA officer in 2001—for less than a year, per his LinkedIn profile—and then spent a decade working for the Department of Homeland Security, specifically Homeland Security Investigations. (HSI is a division of ICE, though Ballard typically does not describe it as such. For the CIA to confirm to VICE World News that he was in fact an officer, Ballard would need to give permission; OUR declined to answer a question about whether he would be willing to do so.)As the details of her testimony made clear, and against tremendous odds, Liliana rescued herself.
Despite the controversy, the raid approach proved popular because it was, put simply, consumable: The rescues are often filmed or photographed, allowing donors and supporters to cheer along from home.
When asked for comment on these specific incidents, IJM did not dispute them. (Update: After publication, IJM clarified that their office in Thailand was not shut down, despite the reported protests from activists; we’ve updated our story to reflect their comment, and added more context on the allegations reportedly made by Thai activists.)The controversies in countries where the "rescues" take place are often not reflected in media coverage or public support back home. OUR has proven particularly irresistible to big organizations and celebrities looking to partner with a worthy cause: ESPN aired a glossy feature video in 2018 touting a partnership between Ballard and Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, while superstar baseball player Bryce Harper recently urged his Instagram followers to support the group for Giving Tuesday, and former Survivor contestant Joe Anglim modeled some t-shirts made to fundraise for OUR. In the painting of Ballard and his wife alongside Harriet Tubman, the artist Jon McNaughton also included some of OUR's more famous presumptive supporters: Former Republican Congresswoman Mia Love beamed from a back row next to talk show host Montel Williams, now-embattled motivational speaker Tony Robbins, Glenn Beck, and actor Ashton Kutcher, a spokesperson for whom says he is not a supporter and is not affiliated with the organization.[F]ormer American law enforcement officers employed by IJM would physically break down brothel doors in Thailand and ‘rescue’ the girls and women out of the brothels. IJM staff made little or no effort to determine if the females were women or children, nor did they make a distinction between those who were forced into prostitution and those who were working as prostitutes voluntarily. IJM did not have appropriate places to house these girls and women after they were ‘rescued.’ Therefore, IJM locked them in other dwellings, or asked, at the last minute, other shelters in Northern Thailand to take the girls and women.
Some journalists—particularly in Utah, where OUR is based—are also fans of the organization. "The Utah press have been cheerleaders for OUR," said Kenneth Lynn Packer, a longtime Utah journalist who's written critically about OUR, particularly its ties with Reyes. "It's a good story. It's sexy: 'We've got this paramilitary group in Utah that goes to other countries and frees child sex slaves, they come swooping in with local law enforcement, arrest these bad guys.'" Packer has written about OUR for the website American Crime Journal; the site's editor has written that OUR has threatened the site with legal action. That legal threat itself proved interesting. Both Packer and ACJ editor D.D.L. Moore noted that OUR appears to have retained the services of Kirton McConkie, the powerful law firm VICE has previously described as the Mormon Church's "legal alter ego,"further reflecting the degree of power and influence the organization has in Utah. OUR has been extremely successful in its fundraising efforts. Tax documents show that in 2018, it raised more than $17 million through contributions and grants; in 2019, that number topped $21 million. This was well-compensated work for its chief executives: In 2018, Ballard made $343,022, while all other chief executives made between $100,000 and $180,000. OUR announced in 2019 that Ballard would step down as CEO in April of that year and "continue to focus on sharing the mission of O.U.R. throughout the world as its Founder," and would no longer draw a salary. (In 2019, before that April 1 cutoff, Ballard reported a salary of $106,000.)"It's a good story. It's sexy: 'We've got this paramilitary group in Utah that goes to other countries and frees child sex slaves, they come swooping in with local law enforcement, arrest these bad guys.'“
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that IJM declined to comment on whether they have any current partnerships with OUR. They say they do not have any current partnerships with OUR.Update: After publication, a spokersperson for Ashton Kutcher reached out to clarify that he is not a supporter of, or affiliated with, OUR. This article has been update to clarify that.Operation Underground Railroad's (O.U.R.) mission is to help rescue and protect victims of child sex trafficking and exploitation, bring their perpetrators to justice, provide survivors with life-saving aftercare services, and raise awareness of this worldwide scourge.
O.U.R. strives to be a force multiplier, working closely with law enforcement globally to understand how to provide the needed tools and resources, within the confines of each country and agency structure, to safeguard children from harm and bring predators to justice while delivering optimal outcomes and tangible impact.
In carrying out this mission, O.U.R., an organization not affiliated with any religion or denomination, has sought to comply with all laws that regulate non-profits since its inception in 2013. We have remained highly focused on our financial stewardship of donor funds and being transparent about O.U.R.'s use of the great financial support we receive from our donors. If asked, O.U.R. will cooperate fully with any official inquiry into its operations.
We are proud to help play a part in giving better lives to children around the world. Keeping child predators away from our children is paramount and we will always support legal efforts to protect children.