How Traffickers Prey on America’s Youth: Jaco Booyens

So I'm telling you this is 2024. A quarter to a half of the exploitation that's happening to our own nation's youth, it's a caregiver doing it in the family. Yakob Buoyance is founder of Yakoboyans Ministries, an anti-trafficking organization working to protect American children from predatory exploitation. But we're talking about a $52 billion industry of buying and selling predominantly women and children inside this country, American citizens. The discussion about a migrant child or a migrant in the country is a completely separate conversation. Buoyance says laws against human trafficking are not being sufficiently enforced. Why are cases continuing to increase while prosecutions decrease? And how is pornography a gateway drug into the trafficking industry? Porn is highly addictive because it alters the neuropathways in the brain. This is science. It's biology. It's physiology. The child's defenseless at this moment. This is American Thought Leaders and I'm Ya Kellik. Yakob Boyans. So good to have you back on American thought leaders. Thank you, Yan. It's a pleasure to be here. Five years ago, we sat down and you exposed me to some of the really frankly horrifying realities of human trafficking, child sex trafficking and so forth that things that you have been working on trying to stop for for decades. We then looked uh at what happened during the pandemic and that was a whole different ballgame because there were these lockdowns, different policies, the border uh online exploitation, huge increase but and here we are today in 2025 where a lot of things seem to be back to normal. What is the reality today? Thank you for consistently uh tackling the tough subjects and to the network as well. You guys do phenomenal work. Unfortunately, trafficking of persons continue to increase and with that we see something very important that maybe we'll cover today later on. Uh prosecutions decreasing. So we're at this inflection point in our culture where it seems that things are back to normal back precoid people are back at work systems kids are in regular school schedules cuz you know a country runs around school schedule but things are not normal there's a very very dark element underneath the surface I'd say the biggest change from when we sat down last when we discussed things like the the impact of the border on human trafficking. Um, online exploitation would be that now, other than back then, human trafficking as a as a as a slogan, as a concept, has become easy to say and it's lost its gut-wrenching impact on the American culture. That's particularly dangerous because if it becomes table talk or it's general speak at lunch hour and it doesn't have that guttural visceral imagery of what am I talking about? the pause effect of wait a second, human beings in 2025, predominantly children, are being enslaved through servitude, now debt bondage, uh, labor trafficking, but mostly sex trafficking. That's a big concern for me because when society grows numb to the definition and it loses its impact, society will easily allow it to blend in. And that's what's happening. Can you give me a picture first of all of of the scale of this and then I I want to get you to I guess remind our audience, especially those that may not have seen some of our interviews before, um what you do and why you do it. Yeah. Thank you. Um, the scale is enormous and I I wish I could tell you that it has decreased, but we're talking about a 52 billion dollar industry of buying and selling predominantly women and children inside this country, American citizens. The discussion about a migrant child or a migrant in the country is a completely separate conversation. Those statistics are purely just on American children. We are still by a long stretch the number one nation on earth where sexual exploitation is happening and it's commercialized. Unfortunately, with the number one producer of pornography, consumer of pornography, American Gen Z is the uh societal category that watches the most pornography on planet Earth. You're also looking at American Hold the presses for a second. Yeah. Yeah. At 20 minutes a day. Yeah. I mean, what age group? And there on average, where do these numbers come from? Well, the these numbers are all collected from think tanks, the Department of Justice, FBI, um, uh, agencies that collect data that we constantly are curating data. Give an example. The average first exposure to pornography in America are now boys age 8. When we met last time, the average exploited child was 12 to 14. That's now 11. So we're moving in the wrong direction part and parcel because of technology and technology is rapidly advancing and putting tool sets in predators hands to make it easier to conduct their atrocities but culturally we're not frowning upon the details. Can we talk about how many 16 17 year olds in America today are walking felons? When you distribute naked imagery of a minor, that's a felony. Children are distributing sexual images of children among peer groups in our society. It's blending into everyday life. There's a study that was recently done by a group that I'm an adviser to, phenomenal group that is an institute for survivor care. Okay. Dr. Gene Ellert. And this study looked at 2,000 cases in law enforcement of human trafficking of children. And the study proved the following. 22% so a quarter to 47% a half of all domestic trafficking cases is perpetrated by the caregiver. So I'm telling you this is 2024. A quarter to a half of the exploitation that's happening to our own nation's youth, it's a caregiver doing it. It's a familial figure in the family. We knew that was happening when we talked last, but those numbers are staggering and it's inverting to where the predominant force exploiting our youth is closer in proximity than it used to be. That makes it infinitely more difficult for the victim to speak up. Because when we use terms in this country such as grooming, desensitization, what are we really saying? We're really just saying a predator is gaining proximity to a target. Desensitizing to get proximity. Well, what if you do not have to desensitize and the groom the grooming doesn't have to happen because the predator is the provider. The predator is already the caregiver. The predator is already a coach or a figure with influence, real power. Remember, human trafficking is at a ground level just the exploitation of vulnerabilities. The predators are just really good at identifying vulnerabilities. So when you look at Maslo's hierarchy of needs, the bottom of the rung is food and shelter. We see people trafficked all the way up to the top tier of of love and belonging, of purpose, of identity. So now let's ask that question of American Gen Z. If you take a snapshot of American Gen Z, arguably they're the most identityless members of our society. They are very wide in information, surface level deep. There's evident vulnerabilities that's displayed online. So, the predators have their pick. And this lack, you're basically saying that this lack of a strong developed identity makes someone much more vulnerable to being used by these people. Absolutely. Because if your deepest desire is love and belonging, we have real cases that we can that we can discuss. Give you a brief brief example, a real case. We'll call this girl Sarah. Sarah's 13. She has a deep desire to play on a soccer team. She doesn't make the team, but she serves the team as kind of a water girl, right? This predator notices this online cuz she talks about that. She talks that her sister makes the the the varsity team. The predator starts affirming her, encouraging her for nine months until one day he shows up at her soccer game. He flies two states over, takes a selfie with her in the background, doesn't introduce himself to her, goes back home. Two weeks later, he sends her the selfie and he said, "When your dad doesn't show up, I will show up. You can trust me." He's earning her favor. She says to him online, "You should have said hello." There's such a deep desire for that child to be seen, to be affirmed. So, it's the exploitation of vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, Gen Z display their v vulnerabilities publicly. It's not hidden. They they they overshare publicly. It's easy to read them. And so that's why you see some of the movements in our country where it feels like why would they just be swept up in a movement? Because they can be because they're looking for purpose. If the purpose is nefarious and it's an exploder, they will always implicate the victim in the crime. And here's what happens, Yan, that we've now determined unilaterally. The second sexual exploitation happens to a person, whether it's a rape, as egregious as a rape, or repeated violation or trafficking. Right? We we have to do better in this country looking at EQ, not IQ. The emotional health of our nation is not good. Okay? The first thing that happens to that person is guilt, shame, and condemnation floods them. They feel guilty, but they're not the perpetrator, they're the victim. Thank you for tuning in to American Thought Leaders. In a world where spin and agendas dominate the headlines, I'm proud to bring you unfiltered insights from the brightest minds in America from a relative outsider Canadian perspective. To keep this possible and to access even more exclusive content, in-depth documentaries, and our daily digital newspaper, consider subscribing to the Epoch Times today. It's your way to support independent journalism. Just hit the link in the description below to subscribe and unlock the full American thought leaders experience and so much more. You can try it today for just $1 a week. So just hit the link in the description below. And now back to the interview. And we're back with Yakob Buyans, founder of the JBM Anti-traicking Organization. very briefly um this the connection between pornography and the trafficking however it manifests if you can kind of explain that picture. Yes. When we say pornography is the gateway drug to human trafficking those who watch porn would say well I I don't buy people but you are engaging in the gateway drug. Why is it the gateway drug? Because it's the only drug that triggers an internal drug. Sex is internal. It's chemical. When you go through puberty, your brain releases a hormone. Your body releases chemistry. When you bond trauma to the internal chemistry of your body, this is trauma bonding. That's deep rooted trauma that normally goes and gets hidden. It gets suppressed. Then disassociation happens. So it takes years for someone to be willing to even recognize or talk about it. So pornography desensitizes any individual to what could be and most often is not okay. When when men watch pornography, the average porn scene available to Americans on average is two guys and one woman. I just told you that the average exposure to porn for the first time is a boy that's 8 years old. So, when an 8-year-old boy sees hardcore pornography, we're not talking about a pinup girl without her top on in a magazine. We're talking about 2K, 4K cameras, multiple angles, two guys nude together with one girl. Immediately, in a second, this chemical reaction in his brain. Neurons start to fire. He's prepubescent, which means he's now starting to produce sex hormones. Pre-puberty, you can never turn it off. Immediately, love and belonging is shattered. Consent is shattered. What is conditional and unconditional love is shattered because it's all fake. It's a scene that was filmed. He's probably watching Take 52. This is not reality. No marriage is pornography. So there's a complete alter reality that is then what we call imprinted into him. It's internal. It's not like you're taking alcohol from an alcoholic and he dries up. He soers up. Sexual violation stays with you. It's it's internal. So now that child is grappling with issues that married adults struggle with, but he's eight or she's 12. And when it becomes physical, now it's dangerous because that child can now very quickly develop an attraction to it because it's highly addictive. Porn is highly addictive because it alters the neuropathways in the brain. It literally shuts down certain areas of the brain and fires up other areas. This is real. This is science. It's it's it's biology. It's physiology. The ch child's defenseless at this moment. Now let's just say that child doesn't engage with anybody. The predator will see that child online because they speak a certain way. They address themselves. They present themselves a certain way. So that's why we say porn is the gateway drug. It desensitizes. It breaks down barriers society, but definitely at the individual. And it's the number one tool a predator uses to prepare a child for human trafficking. They use porn to desensitize the child. They use porn to train the child on how to perform. Why would we allow a tool like that to freely impact our children? It's it's a dangerous dangerous game which is and I know it's contentious because you'll find that those who are pro pornography will cite the first amendment and want to make it a freedom of speech, freedom of expression issue. This is me speaking for me. I highly doubt that our founding fathers considered that we would get the freedom of speech in order to take our own demonic vices and impress them and express them onto children that are vulnerable under the guise of freedom of expression, freedom of speech. So, it's something we're grappling with a lot in this country. I I'll take a snapshot of the church in 2023 and 2024. Only 22% of American pastors mentioned pornography from the pulpit. It is this dark dangerous dragon that is prowling amongst our youth and not even the church is addressing it for what it is. I've heard argued that the reason for that is that just too many people are themselves have become addicted and you know have their own shame and their own issues. That's right. With it and they don't, you know, they don't want to deal with it. I've covered the issue of pornography specifically a number of times on the show and uh um I I that's exactly my sense like it's just something that is unbelievably impactful but it's just something that's society, you know, the thing you can't you you don't really ever talk about. You're nailing it and and and to to perhaps move on from pornography, but I'll say this to you. I I this is how I explain it. Asking a man to close the poison well he drinks from doesn't work. He first needs to stop drinking from the poison well. So when we ask fathers to step up and fight for the morality of children but the father is living under guilt because he himself is addicted to pornography. It's very difficult. So at the end of the day it's always going to start with me. Am I a contributor to the problem or am I part of the solution? Let's go back a little bit and let just tell me how you got involved in trying to counter human trafficking. Yeah. What what a story. I'm from South Africa as you know, very proud immigrant to this country. Very proud citizen to this country. Momentous moment to stand in front of a judge and hear welcome newest member to the United States. Um but in South Africa 1994 I was a senior in high school. My sister Elona at that year was 12 years old. She wins a national singing competition. Um the record label delivers on everything they promise. We are with her all all the way, every step of the way. And it ends up that Elona is trafficked through that record label. Ilanka then goes on and she's trafficked for six years through the entertainment industry. We don't know that she's trafficked while this is happening. I'm I'm a an 18year-old rescued in 2001. I am by God's grace there for the rescue, part of the rescue. Still, we don't know what she endured. We made an agreement we would immigrate to the United States and we get to the US and after arriving here months after 9/11, Elilanka sits down with the family and tells us in great detail, what men had done to her. She exposes us to human trafficking, which wasn't even a concept on my mind. She talks to us about hundreds of 12 and 13 year old girls in sex trafficking rings across the globe that she was exposed to particularly in Africa. She talks to about the type of clientele or buyer in the profile is not what people think and your world shatters. your heart breaks for your sister, but immediately I condemned myself. Like where was I as the brother, the the the caretaker of the family? There's no father in the family. And the reality is I had no chance. Nobody had a chance because the predators are so skillful. Yes. Being raised without a father made her more vulnerable. Yes, a single mother working two jobs and a brother that's in sport and a younger brother makes her more vulnerable. Um, so we learned firsthand. Our our entry into human trafficking was through the horrific testimony of my sister. And that night when the rescue happened on the border of South Africa and another country, I heard God's voice. I'm walking across the street to part of this rescue and I hear God say, "Not another one." And that's still our mission every morning. one child at a time, not another one. We will never stop. We do not lose momentum or steam. As a matter of fact, we are more gung-ho than ever before. Um and and and gung-ho with what exactly? Gung-ho to see the afflicted liberated, but not just see survivors restored, but to combat this thing before it happens. By the time a child gets trafficked, society has failed that child. We need to do a lot better at recognizing the vulnerabilities in children and shoring up those vulnerabilities before the predator exploits them because that's all the predators doing. Yan, I don't know if you know this, but the average predator in America invests 9 months in a victim before they strike. ask the the the potential victim to self-expose or physically meet in person. 9 months, the average predator at any given time profiles and engages with 32 potential victims at the same time. One predator, 32 potential victims at the same time. At any given moment in America, there's 34 of a million 750,000 active predators online right now as we speak. times 32, you're talking about millions, millions of American children being profiled as we speak in everyday life. And they don't know what the wolf looks like. They don't know how the wolf talks. Where would he show up? They're told that it it looks like kidnapping or you would self-evidently see it when it happens. They don't know the wolf is in their DMs. He's the one sending them emojis. Uh he's a coach, a pastor perhaps, a an elected official, a maintenance man. The average buyer of sex with children in America is a father of two, married, earning north of $100,000 a year. A final thought as we finish. This is a unique moment where we can turn this evil of human trafficking on a dime. When we can finally see justice come to the most afflicted, the most vulnerable of our society, it's an opportunity for the public to partner with elected officials and hold elected officials accountable to say here's a real solution. Uh we're demanding that justice prevails and I believe uh success begets success. Well, Yakoboyans, it's such a pleasure to have had you on. Thank you, Yan. Thank you all for joining Yakoboyans and me on this episode of American Thought Leaders. I'm your host, Yana Kellik. [Music]