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The ROOT CAUSE Of Human Trafficking & How To SAVE CHILDREN From It! | Tim Ballard & Lewis Howes

- Learn more about Tim's organization Operation Underground Railroad! Tim Ballard has worked every type of case imaginable in the fight to dismantle child trafficking rings.

Tim BallardguestLewis Howeshost

Dec 26, 20221h 12mWatch on YouTube

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90 min read · 17,603 words

0:00 – 4:45
What Operation Underground Railroad Does and the Scale of Trafficking
1. TBTim Ballard
  We've counted somewhere between three and 400 kids were likely sexually abused-
2. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh
3. TBTim Ballard
  ... over the two years those guys were there. You know, what's, what's scary and, and where Americans need to wake up-
4. LHLewis Howes
  Mm
5. TBTim Ballard
  ... we call this the hidden war because-
6. LHLewis Howes
  I think you gotta have a dream. The school of greatness. Really? [laughs] Yeah. Please welcome Lewis Howes. So for people that have no context about, uh, you or this issue in the world and in the US, what is O.U.R., the mission that you guys have, and how bad is the problem in the world right now?
7. TBTim Ballard
  So Operation Underground Railroad is, is our foundation. We're a nonprofit and we, uh, we strive to empower law enforcement and aftercare services in the extraction and healing of, of child sex victims, and often it's adult, uh, sex victims as well.
8. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
9. TBTim Ballard
  And, uh, so we, we are in, uh, we have five regions. We have offices in, in five different regions, so the sun never sets anymore on our operations, which is very exciting for us.
10. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
11. TBTim Ballard
  Um, and we're just constantly working with law enforcement, and they ask us to, to do different things, you know. Um, there's so many ways to attack it 'cause it's enormous, right? There's millions of people. There's more people enslaved today than ever before in the history of the world, which is shocking to people 'cause they think their textbooks tell them that it ended with, with Abraham Lincoln and the end of the transatlantic slave trade. And it's like, no, it's reared its ugly head again, and there's more people now than, than, than ever. Slave labor, sex, and organ harvesting, which w- is becoming a bigger thing, believe it or not.
12. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
13. TBTim Ballard
  Um, and so we just, we seek to empower law enforcement. Sometimes it means trainings that we do or equipment. Um, oftentimes they ask us to go undercover 'cause our guys and girls are all m- most are former law enforcement or operators-
14. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
15. TBTim Ballard
  ... or f- or military and, and they can in- infiltrate very rapidly.
16. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
17. TBTim Ballard
  Um, especially if they look like they're Westerners.
18. LHLewis Howes
  Sure.
19. TBTim Ballard
  And that's not a, and that's a bad thing, by the way, for, for us who live in this country because what it says is we are the demand.
20. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
21. TBTim Ballard
  And we are. We're the largest consuming country, the United States, for ch-
22. LHLewis Howes
  Of, of what?
23. TBTim Ballard
  Of child sex videos.
24. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
25. TBTim Ballard
  Um-
26. LHLewis Howes
  Would that also include sex, um, engagements with chi- kids, or more consuming-
27. TBTim Ballard
  It's-
28. LHLewis Howes
  ... you know, child pornography?
29. TBTim Ballard
  Correct. It's the ch- it's the consumption of the, of the child exploitation material-
30. LHLewis Howes
  Wow
4:45 – 14:33
The Mexico Operation to Rescue One Boy
1. TBTim Ballard
  And, uh, and I remember we called it Operation Football, futbol, you know, soccer ball really-
2. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
3. TBTim Ballard
  ... if you wanna, like, translate it. And because w- as we walked away, uh, as we walked away the little boy said, "Senor," mister, he's like ... It's the first time he spoke. He, and he said he knew we were coming back, right? To do horrible things to him.
4. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
5. TBTim Ballard
  He, he says, "Can you, could you bring me a soccer ball when you come back?"
6. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
7. TBTim Ballard
  And I was just, like, biting my ... I was like, oh my gosh. That night, it was a crazy case 'cause that night, um, they were supposed to bring the, the kid to our house. We like to control the settings. We had a sting house. And then they called us and said, "Hey, another cart- you're just outside our ca- our cartel zone."
8. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
9. TBTim Ballard
  "We can't risk this kid." They said, "This kid's a golden goose. We make so much money."
10. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
11. TBTim Ballard
  "We cannot take him out of ... Like, they will kill us," like, the cartel bosses. And so they said, "You, you gotta come to this hotel." And it was a c- our intel people look it up. It's, it's owned by a cartel, and it's, like, fatal funnels everywhere. It's one of these hotels and it's just, it's just a garage.
12. LHLewis Howes
  There's no escape. You can't get out. Yeah.
13. TBTim Ballard
  Oh, yeah. There's, it's only a garage y- door open 'cause it's all, it's for, it's for sex, you know? And so you, you go in, they close the door.
14. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
15. TBTim Ballard
  And you go upstairs. There's this one single room. Nothing's connected.
16. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
17. TBTim Ballard
  And, and I remember our guys were like, "Tim, you can't go." I'm like, "Screw, are you kidding me?" And I do a little trick. This is why it's about the individual for me. Because it was super dangerous. We didn't have time to be forward deployed. They had the kid out. The golden goose was out for just one day. And they were gonna take him back. They said, "If you don't come now, you're not gonna get him."
18. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
19. TBTim Ballard
  And I had to go 'cause I was the face they knew, right? There was-
20. LHLewis Howes
  Right
21. TBTim Ballard
  ... and, um, and I s- I, I remember, uh, we were in the sting house that, that never was, right? [laughs] And I, I take two steps to the side. I remember just, I just... This kid, I, I find the kid of mine who's closest in age. I do this every time.
22. LHLewis Howes
  Of your child? Of-
23. TBTim Ballard
  Of mi- and I have nine, as you know.
24. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25. TBTim Ballard
  So I, it's easy for me to find wh- [laughs]
26. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
27. TBTim Ballard
  ... whatever kid we're looking for, I'll find one of mine.
28. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
29. TBTim Ballard
  And, you know, I used to avoid doing this 'cause it hurt too much, and then there came a day in my career where I was like, "No, let it happen."
30. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
14:33 – 19:35
Staying in Character and Facing a Former Victim
1. LHLewis Howes
  How do you stay in, I guess, character when you're thinking 30 minutes before this, "I'm gonna go, I'll do whatever I can for my son, Luke. This is my son that I'm going to rescue," essentially-
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah
3. LHLewis Howes
  ... emotionally in your heart, but then when you enter this place, how do you not transfer back over emotionally to where you wanna rip this guy's head off? And you have to be like a pedophile acting like, "Yes, I can't wait to do this and this and this."
4. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. So it's the weirdest thing. I've been doing this for 18 years, and I've gotten better at it.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
6. TBTim Ballard
  So I've learned over the years how to answer that question. In the beginning it's really hard, you know? Um, like in the beginning I, I'd actually go to therapists, and I would actually train my mind-
7. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh
8. TBTim Ballard
  ... to, to, like, not see my kid.
9. LHLewis Howes
  To block it, yeah.
10. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah, to block this or block that. And then I eventually got to the point where I started s- use, letting my kid, I was ready to let my kid's face be superimposed, and, and I actually let it happen. Wanted it to happen 'cause I realized I'm better, I'm more effective-
11. LHLewis Howes
  Wow
12. TBTim Ballard
  ... if it's my kid, right? And it's personal, you know?
13. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
14. TBTim Ballard
  So that's, so I started doing that. But the f- the weird thing about undercover work, um, and everyone's different how they apply different, you know, mental-
15. LHLewis Howes
  Techniques, yeah
16. TBTim Ballard
  ... games, but the only way I've learned so I don't just go, "Ah, just..." You know, in the middle of the thing-
17. LHLewis Howes
  'Cause you know you have the end result. You need to finish it.
18. TBTim Ballard
  Right.
19. LHLewis Howes
  You, you, you-
20. TBTim Ballard
  If you, y- y- y- you will fail that kid.
21. LHLewis Howes
  You fail that, yeah.
22. TBTim Ballard
  You'll fail that kid. And the o- and the other thing I do is I try to find the good in that person, 'cause there is actually good in everybody.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Really?
24. TBTim Ballard
  It's hard to say this, but you find, like, they'll have a family. A lot of them have kids. And so you kind of focus on, like-
25. LHLewis Howes
  How can they do that when they have kids?
26. TBTim Ballard
  I cannot understand it. Like, I've, I was on a case once where the guy was selling all these kids, and then he pulls out a picture of this other little girl, and i- he's like, I'm like, "Isn't she beautif- beautiful?" I'm like, "Yeah." He's like, "That's my daughter." I'm like, "You're gonna sell me your daughter?" No, he was just showing me, "Isn't she beautiful?" I'm like, "Dude, how did you just do that? Like, you were just selling me kids her age, and now you're just, now you're like proud daddy."
27. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
28. TBTim Ballard
  Like, you know?
29. LHLewis Howes
  But you wouldn't sell her, but you'd sell these other kids.
30. TBTim Ballard
  You, you'll sell, it's someone else's kid you'll sell, but you know, yours is just daddy.
19:35 – 24:48
Disarming Traffickers and Making the Arrest
1. LHLewis Howes
  So what happened at the end of this, uh, in Mexico with this, this one boy? Um, so you, you got the footage, you buy the cocaine, then you pay for the exchange.
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah.
3. LHLewis Howes
  And then what? You go back into the other room?
4. TBTim Ballard
  No, no. So, uh, once the exchange happens, that's for, for the prosecution in Mexico in this, in this jurisdiction, that's all they needed.
5. LHLewis Howes
  So you didn't go back and see the kid?
6. TBTim Ballard
  No, no.
7. LHLewis Howes
  You just do what? You call someone? You-
8. TBTim Ballard
  So I, yeah, I just text the cop, say, "Done. Deal done." And then I told him, I say, "My, my, I have a friend coming who's gonna be part of the party. He's gonna film some." "Okay, no problem." So I keep him, uh, distracted enough. And so I, and so, um, I go, I go up in the garage real quick. He's coming, no problem, and then I keep him super distracted, and then I hear the footsteps coming up. And I'm like, "Oh, there, there, there, there they are." It's the cops, right? And then all of a sudden, boom, policia!
9. LHLewis Howes
  So you're in the room with the guy still, just kind of buddying, buddying with him, hanging out. You know in, in 60 seconds there's people coming up. How does that feel for you when you know there's gonna be police coming in? Is it fearful? Is it exciting? Are you just waiting? Does it seem like it's hours when you-
10. TBTim Ballard
  Oh, always
11. LHLewis Howes
  ... send a text-
12. TBTim Ballard
  It always seems like it's hours
13. LHLewis Howes
  ... and then it's like 60 seconds later they're there?
14. TBTim Ballard
  It always seems like hours, but you gotta, you gotta-
15. LHLewis Howes
  And what if they have gun? What if the bad guy has guns?
16. TBTim Ballard
  And you don't know always. You, you s- you do your best, but in this case, I had no, I-
17. LHLewis Howes
  'Cause you didn't have a weapon, did you?
18. TBTim Ballard
  Mm-mm, no.
19. LHLewis Howes
  'Cause they'll probably check you usually when you come in, right?
20. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. I, even when I w- was in law enforcement, my personal preference, I've seen others choose differently, but I don't, I think it's more dangerous to have a gun. I've, I've seen cases where because they see you have a gun, they-
21. LHLewis Howes
  It's more dangerous. Yeah, yeah
22. TBTim Ballard
  ... right. And, and I'd just rather just-
23. LHLewis Howes
  They're on guard now. They're, like, getting their weapons out.
24. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. I'd rather just act, I, I f- I'm confident in my ability to act the part and just, and disarm 'em that way, and I've never had issue. I've never had-
25. LHLewis Howes
  And you have communication skills to keep them connected. You have emotional skills. You can disarm them psychologically-
26. TBTim Ballard
  Correct
27. LHLewis Howes
  ... emotionally.
28. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Communicating with them, pla- you know.
30. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah.
24:48 – 30:48
Aftercare and Healing for Survivors
1. LHLewis Howes
  So where, what happens to someone once you rescue them and you get them out of the situation? What's the next year look like of their life, whether it's one boy or 100 people at one time?
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. So the aftercare portion is the most important part.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
4. TBTim Ballard
  Because if you don't have that pl- piece, you didn't even do anything.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
6. TBTim Ballard
  I've seen, I've seen people go in and, phew, like, they'll, they'll do, like, a rescue whatever, and then they just leave. And, and, and frankly, that's how it w- in the government when we started, if I did international ops, I was told, "Just leave," and we, 'cause we just, the host government's in charge of that. We never do that anymore. Because what happens oftentimes-
7. LHLewis Howes
  They fall right back into it
8. TBTim Ballard
  ... they're not prepared. Yeah. It's hor- it's even worse.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
10. TBTim Ballard
  It's a net negative.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Re-traumatized, yeah.
12. TBTim Ballard
  Y- because now you, they get kicked out, they process them, sign some paperwork, "Okay, b- see ya," and the kid goes out in the parking lot and the trafficker's there to beat the snot out of him.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Oh, man.
14. TBTim Ballard
  "How did you get caught, huh?" Now the police are the bad guys. "Look what happens to you." No, they avoid at all cost.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Oh, no.
16. TBTim Ballard
  So you can actually do net negative. You can do damage by going out and being stupid like some people do. I know some people like-
17. LHLewis Howes
  Right
18. TBTim Ballard
  ... um-
19. LHLewis Howes
  So what's the next year look like then for them?
20. TBTim Ballard
  So then we don't begin an operation, like, if I'm sitting down in the very beginning with the law enforcement, 'cause we won't work unless we get permission and-
21. LHLewis Howes
  Sure
22. TBTim Ballard
  ... we're signed up as informants or different, make it very legitimate, um, we have our aftercare team in that first meeting, and we tell them, "If, if you don't agree that any of the kids we help you rescue, they have to go to where this director, our director tells you they're going-
23. LHLewis Howes
  A certified place that we trust
24. TBTim Ballard
  ... that we vetted."
25. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
26. TBTim Ballard
  And then it just happened in that, in that region we had a really good partner, and that's why the, the more countries we're in, you know, some people take the model of, like, f- few countries.
27. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
28. TBTim Ballard
  And, and do lots. We, we, our model's as many countries and plant those seeds 'cause we have faith in our ability to empower them.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
30. TBTim Ballard
  Um, and then it's really good 'cause you can, you can talk to each other.
30:48 – 32:40
Survivors Who Become Rescuers
1. TBTim Ballard
  So one of the kids, one of the kids that grew up, um, and one- a lot of them wanna come work in anti-trafficking and for us, a lot of them for us. So this one kid, uh, became an adult and, um, and had recently been married, and he, he goes out and finds victims, which we don't tell him to do that 'cause like, "Bro, you gotta..." He's like, "No, I go..." You know, he just goes out to, like, public squares and he can identify, like-
2. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah, yeah
3. TBTim Ballard
  ... "I know you don't wanna be here. You don't wanna be here." He approaches... This is a true story. This is crazy. This is so a- amazing. He went to this girl who looks... He knew she didn't wanna be there, very, very young, and she was pregnant.
4. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
5. TBTim Ballard
  Like barely, he could tell. 'Cause this guy knows the world so well.
6. LHLewis Howes
  Sure.
7. TBTim Ballard
  He knows-
8. LHLewis Howes
  He was in it.
9. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. And so he walks up and he says, "Are you okay? You know, I was once, you know, being in this situation as well." And she, and she's like, "Why are you talking to me?" He's like, "I just wanna help you." And she starts crying and she's like, "God must have sent you because I decided to, r- just before you walked up to me, I was gonna kill myself."
10. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
11. TBTim Ballard
  "And the baby would die too with me."
12. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
13. TBTim Ballard
  And she's like, "I don't think I can have this baby. I don't know what I'm gonna do." And he said to her, "Don't, don't, don't do it. Like, I promise you l- we'll take care of you. I, um, I'm recently married and we will adopt your baby."
14. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
15. TBTim Ballard
  "We'll adopt your baby." And, um-
16. LHLewis Howes
  Holy cow
17. TBTim Ballard
  ... and you know, some like nine, 10 months later, uh, we were, we were in his country at, and one of our aftercare people were, was at the, the baptism of this baby.
18. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
19. TBTim Ballard
  And it's like-
20. LHLewis Howes
  That's crazy.
21. TBTim Ballard
  W-
22. LHLewis Howes
  That's amazing
23. TBTim Ballard
  ... and actually the story's told in an upcoming documentary called Triple Take, which comes out next year. And, um, and it's just like, what a n- what a f- amazing cycle, right?
24. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
25. TBTim Ballard
  Like the, the, the, the trafficked kid becomes the rescuer and then takes a baby who was born-
26. LHLewis Howes
  Wow
27. TBTim Ballard
  ... out of being tra- and raises a, this-
28. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh
29. TBTim Ballard
  ... it's the coolest, like this is so cool. Like it's working, you know?
30. LHLewis Howes
  It's unbelievable.
32:40 – 40:28
Ukraine: Extracting Orphans and Vulnerable Children
1. LHLewis Howes
  And so what's been ha- You were telling me before, um, about what's been happening in Ukraine.
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah.
3. LHLewis Howes
  And there's this crazy, you know, story that happened. Can you share some of this about what happened with the, you know, a lot of the young kids and women in Ukraine, and how many you've been able to impact and-
4. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah
5. LHLewis Howes
  ... rescue from that situation, and what you guys are doing now with, with what's happening there?
6. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. So you know, people often are just perplexed at the number, like $32 billion. How, you can't even... That, that's how much money, you know, is exchanged, right?
7. LHLewis Howes
  In the sex trafficking you mean?
8. TBTim Ballard
  In the sex trafficking, just sex trafficking.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Industry, yeah.
10. TBTim Ballard
  If you, human trafficking everywhere is much higher.
11. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
12. TBTim Ballard
  But just, just the sex trafficking.
13. LHLewis Howes
  32 billion.
14. TBTim Ballard
  32 billion. And people wonder, like, "Well, that's a big market. How do you get the people? How do you get kids?" And it's, they always, it's har- it's harvest time when there's, and when it's vulnerable time. So it's, it's usually developing countries.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Wars, natural disasters.
16. TBTim Ballard
  Exactly.
17. LHLewis Howes
  Things like that.
18. TBTim Ballard
  The traffickers just , it's like a magnet. 'Cause they're everywhere, right? So when the Russians invade on February 24th, um, it was my wife who, we had 12 kids in Ukraine that we were adopting out. Ukraine's a high trafficking country, so we have a program called Children Need Families that if you're in, if you're an orphan in certain countries, the chances of you being sexually exploited are like almost for sure.
19. LHLewis Howes
  Really?
20. TBTim Ballard
  So yeah. So it's just like-
21. LHLewis Howes
  Even if you're in an orphanage?
22. TBTim Ballard
  Yes. The orphanages are some of the worst pla- centers of abuse.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Ugh.
24. TBTim Ballard
  And, and orphanages have often in the past been like the centers of trafficking.
25. LHLewis Howes
  How do you know what to trust? If you're supporting an orphanage, how do you know to trust them?
26. TBTim Ballard
  Well, finally, uh, you know, the international community got together and they have, uh, orphanages sign what's called the Hague Convention.
27. LHLewis Howes
  Okay.
28. TBTim Ballard
  Which i- eliminates or, or almost completely eliminates the possibility.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
30. TBTim Ballard
  So you're certified at, under the Hague and you, you, there's c-
40:28 – 51:39
Luring a Wanted Pedophile in Mexico City
1. LHLewis Howes
  so what is this thing you were telling me about the hidden war? What is happening with this?
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. So the hidden war was... Well, while we're in Ukraine, they gave us another list of, they think over 200,000 women and children have been trafficked, right, out of the country.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Is, is that sex trafficking?
4. TBTim Ballard
  Sex-
5. LHLewis Howes
  Or that could be organ trafficking-
6. TBTim Ballard
  It could be anything
7. LHLewis Howes
  ... anything. Any type of s- trafficking.
8. TBTim Ballard
  Sex or organs or mostly sex.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
10. TBTim Ballard
  So we decide that we're gonna do something about this. So we, we put together a team of Ukrainian speakers. I gotta get Ukrainian speakers. So we go to Budapest, do a training, um, uh, and find, basically recruit and see who can pass our assessments, if they can speak Ukrainian. And we find a couple of awesome operators, um, one of which is a 35-year-old actress who just killed it in all the training and the scenarios. And, and, uh, thank goodness, 'cause we can put, put, put a makeup on, artist on her and turn her into a 13-year-old girl.
11. LHLewis Howes
  That's crazy.
12. TBTim Ballard
  Now, while... This is a miracle from God. And, and it goes back to my wife. Like, she didn't even know why she was sending me here.
13. LHLewis Howes
  Uh-huh.
14. TBTim Ballard
  We know why now.
15. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
16. TBTim Ballard
  Like, as, because we get a phone call from a, a Dutch police asset that tells... He doesn't even know what we're doing, right? He says, "Hey, bro, I got a, a lead for you. This pedophile who we've been hunting for two years," 'cause he's a political activist trying to change the laws in Holland to, to, to make legal sex with children, right? There's interviews where he's talking about three and four-year-olds-
17. LHLewis Howes
  No way
18. TBTim Ballard
  ... should be able to consent.
19. LHLewis Howes
  That's crazy.
20. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah, yeah. And he's just like, "If they can consent to ice cream or a walk in the park, they can consent to sex, too."
21. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
22. TBTim Ballard
  "It feels good for them, too."
23. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
24. TBTim Ballard
  Like, it's always, it's always to liberate the child. It's always for the child's benefit, you know? Um, but this guy's been on the run 'cause he was arrested in Holland for child, for crimes against children. He's like, "I just found the guy. He's in Mexico City hiding. And he told me on this undercover, his undercover, like, you know, chat room or whatever." He says, "He's looking for Ukrainian kids he can insert into the Mexican market, sex market."
25. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
26. TBTim Ballard
  And I'm like, "Bro, you have no idea. I'm sitting here right now with Ukrainians, one of which looks like a kid." So he introduces me to this guy. He says, "Hey, I got your guy. He's an American. He's in the market. He's got kids. He's in Ukraine right now." And this guy calling me. He's like, "Come to Mexico and show me what you got."
27. LHLewis Howes
  You're talking to the pedophile?
28. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah, he calls me on my undercover phone.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Oh my gosh.
30. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. So, uh, so he invites me to Mexico City to come- ... to come, uh, s- I w- he wants to see my product and he's gonna show me his-
51:39 – 56:05
The Ecuador Raid and the Hidden War
1. TBTim Ballard
  Well, do you want me to, can I tell you w- when we go to Ecuador?
2. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
3. TBTim Ballard
  'Cause this is where, I, I-
4. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah, yeah, yeah
5. TBTim Ballard
  ... so I'll get to the hidden war 'cause it hits the United States-
6. LHLewis Howes
  Wow
7. TBTim Ballard
  ... eventually. That's the scary part about this-
8. LHLewis Howes
  Okay
9. TBTim Ballard
  ... and the important part. 'Cause this is, this is a pedophile network that's kind of all over.
10. LHLewis Howes
  Well, they're all connected.
11. TBTim Ballard
  They're all connected. They're all talking.
12. LHLewis Howes
  From all over the world.
13. TBTim Ballard
  From all over the world. And, and from inside the United States as well. So, uh, our intel unit goes in and looks. Like, okay, we, we, we got the passport. Two months he was in Ecuador, so the hotel's somewhere in Ecuador. Where? Well, the, our intel guys, our open source OSINT guys, you know, they go, they go and and they find they messed up one time. There was an ad in a little village of, in Canoa, Ecuador. There was a big earthquake in 2016. Very vulnerable population.
14. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
15. TBTim Ballard
  Um, single, single-parent homes and that's exactly where a pedophile would go hang out. There was, uh, one ad for like this boutique hotel in Canoa, um, and it's put on by, it, it just says Leslie. Like, one time it says Leslie.
16. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
17. TBTim Ballard
  He, he screwed up, put a name, but that's all it says. 50/50 chance, whatever. We call Ecuadorian police. Super tight conne- connections with those guys. Homeland Security, our US embassy supports it. They rush out to the village and it, on the beach, and they set up on the, on the hotel that's in the ad. Within one hour both those guys rear their heads around looking, just casually come out, and there's little boys in the house.
18. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
19. TBTim Ballard
  And it's, and, and then this other dude comes out of the house, okay. We're like, "Oh, my gosh, that's, that's the fourth guy we w- this, we would've looked for." He was visiting as a tourist with another dude.
20. LHLewis Howes
  Crazy.
21. TBTim Ballard
  And, and, and, um, this is so important because the, it was in a kind of a, a part of a, it was being cons- uh, remodeled. I just got word literally this morning from the prosecutor down in Ecuador. He's like, "Bro, we just, I don't know if you know, we found out these guys were launching in a, a huge..." They were gonna finish that up and it was gonna be like pedophiles everywhere. You wanna have your little boys? Come on down here.
22. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
23. TBTim Ballard
  It's, it's very obscure. There's not much-
24. LHLewis Howes
  Crazy
25. TBTim Ballard
  ... yeah. Um, so this guy who comes out of the house, okay, 'cause we're going to the judge like, "Judge, you gotta get us a warrant. We gotta get in." He's like, "I don't have enough. Get me more. Get me more." And, and it was that same day this guy leaves. What are the chances? He leaves the first day we get eyes on the place. He gets on a plane. We've tracked him to Miami. He's coming probably to set something up here 'cause th- they're gonna set up a l- a bunch of hotel. He comes to Miami. We call Homeland Security. That's who I used to work for. They pick him up, do a, do a full forensic on his computer, and they find all this evidence, right, of child sex. So he gets sent back to Holland. There's, uh, there's a warrant for him waiting in Holland, right? So he's gone. We got him caught. And then that, that gave us the evidence we needed 'cause the, the machines came out of the house into Miami, so the judge is like, "Done. Warrant." Boom. Knock, you saw the footage, right? Knocked down the doors, and then the guys get arrested, and then all these kids and their families start emerging onto the streets. And it was-
26. LHLewis Howes
  Wow
27. TBTim Ballard
  ... it was, we had, we had child forensic interviewers ready in case this happened. We've counted somewhere between three and 400 kids were likely sexually abused-
28. LHLewis Howes
  Oh, my gosh
29. TBTim Ballard
  ... over the two years those guys were there.
30. LHLewis Howes
  Oh.
56:05 – 59:56
How Listeners Can Get Involved
1. LHLewis Howes
  For someone that is hearing this and they didn't know the, the weight of just the sex trafficking world and how big it was and how big it is and where it could be going if we don't do anything to stop it, and it feels daunting to them, what can they do to, to get involved in some way in supporting ending sex trafficking? What c- what's the first step? What can they, how can they learn more? Where can they go on your site to get more information about what governments are doing and-
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah. So yeah, it's a, it's a super dark world, which is why so many just wanna turn a blind eye.
3. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
4. TBTim Ballard
  And I've, we're, we're, that's why I'm so grateful for you, Lewis, because you're, you're a very prominent person in, in the media, public figure that's not afraid.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
6. TBTim Ballard
  S- most are afraid to talk about it-
7. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm
8. TBTim Ballard
  ... 'cause they, I've seen they say, "Tim, my, my place is a place of light. Like, I don't wanna bring-
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm
10. TBTim Ballard
  ... I don't wanna bring darkness to my people." And it's like, no, no, no, no, you're gonna bring light-
11. LHLewis Howes
  Right
12. TBTim Ballard
  ... to the darkness, right? [laughs]
13. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
14. TBTim Ballard
  But you, I mean, you've been a supporter-
15. LHLewis Howes
  Of course, man
16. TBTim Ballard
  ... and you've donated so much-
17. LHLewis Howes
  Of course, man
18. TBTim Ballard
  ... m- moneyyou brought so many people, so thank you for being brave-
19. LHLewis Howes
  Of course, man
20. TBTim Ballard
  ... enough to even talk about this. And, and it's so important. Um, and the good news about, you know, what we can show people is we actually have a solution.
21. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
22. TBTim Ballard
  We're not sitting here and wave some dark flag of, of, you know, of horror and terror.
23. LHLewis Howes
  Right.
24. TBTim Ballard
  We will tell you what it is, but we're gonna tell you, we will go anywhere, and we know how to go there. We have partners all over. I mean, this case I just told you, in four months we pull all that off, and we can do it again.
25. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
26. TBTim Ballard
  And it's, it's, we're, we're training law enforcers, empowering law enforcers. We're moving rapidly and getting kids out. And so if you come visit us at ourrescue.org and learn about we, there's videos, there's content. We have materials that help you, um, to identify human trafficking or exploitation-
27. LHLewis Howes
  Wow
28. TBTim Ballard
  ... that might be happening in your own community, in your own home. So we have trainings, uh, and then you can participate in, in, in the rescue and rehabilitation by supporting our teams around the world.
29. LHLewis Howes
  Wow. So ourrescue.org.
30. TBTim Ballard
  Yes.
59:56 – 1:05:33
Storytellers, Lewis's Story and Katherine's Role
1. TBTim Ballard
  I, I always tell pe- this, this is the truth about fighting slavery of, of any kind. It's, you know, we can get thousands out, right? But, you know, when Abraham Lincoln, uh, met Harriet Beecher Stowe for the first time, who was a great abolitionist along with Harriet Tubman and, and Frederick Douglass, and they got really loud, right?
2. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
3. TBTim Ballard
  And he said to her, he didn't take the credit for the end of slavery, and he, he doesn't deserve all the credit, frankly. He doesn't deserve most of the credit.
4. LHLewis Howes
  Uh-huh.
5. TBTim Ballard
  And I love him, but he even said to her, "You're the lady that wrote the book that started this war."
6. LHLewis Howes
  Wow.
7. TBTim Ballard
  It needs, it, it, there has to be that loud voice. And I always say the storytellers like you, you're the actual heroes. We can only rescue a, a certain amount. It's the storytellers that move the entire community-
8. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
9. TBTim Ballard
  ... that move the needle, that, that bring the masses and stand up. And that's the light that this, the darkness of human trafficking cannot withstand. So-
10. LHLewis Howes
  Right
11. TBTim Ballard
  ... so I thank you for being a light and being a constant [mouth clicks] friend-
12. LHLewis Howes
  Of course, brother
13. TBTim Ballard
  ... to this cause, man. Thank you.
14. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah, man. I'm excited, man. I, I wanna continue to support you. We've supported you. We wanna keep supporting you. Ever since I heard your talk at Tony Robbins' event, I think it was two years ago, almost three years ago now, 'cause I think it was January, February 2020.
15. TBTim Ballard
  That's right. That's correct, yeah.
16. LHLewis Howes
  So almost three years ago is when I first heard about you and heard your speech, and I was just like, it, it spoke to me- You know, it was, it wasn't something that happened to me, but through sexual abuse, it's kind of related to me in a sense that I know what it feels like to be vulnerable and be taken advantage of sexually-
17. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah
18. LHLewis Howes
  ... as a, as a little boy.
19. TBTim Ballard
  Mm.
20. LHLewis Howes
  And I can only imagine the pain and trauma and suffering of being sold by, uh, a stranger, or being sold by your own parents, not once, but over and over and over again. And so the pain that I felt was just, you know, I can only think times a thousand what these children are going through, the suffering. And so the fact that this is your mission, and your wife is fully on board, where you're probably gone half the year, you know-
21. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah
22. LHLewis Howes
  ... out serving in, in dangerous scenarios is just, uh... I really honor and acknowledge both of you, and I got to meet her at the last-
23. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah
24. LHLewis Howes
  ... O.U.R. event, so.
25. TBTim Ballard
  Can I say some- something about her?
26. LHLewis Howes
  Sure. Yeah
27. TBTim Ballard
  ... real quick? Um, I wouldn't have done this without her.
28. LHLewis Howes
  Mm-hmm.
29. TBTim Ballard
  I was a total wimp. And, and when, when I had to either do the case, or, or I had to quit my job to do the, to do these operations, right? And that's what started O.U.R. It's like I got shut down because of jurisdiction, but I was this close, and it was like... And it was her that said to me, um, when I said, "I'll do it, I'll do it," and then the money started coming in, I was like, "Wait, I'm not gonna actually-
30. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah
1:05:33 – 1:12:21
Three Truths: Faith, Service and Forgiveness
1. LHLewis Howes
  You do have this book as well that shares-
2. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah
3. LHLewis Howes
  ... more about it, Slave Stealers.
4. TBTim Ballard
  This tells the whole story of how we started.
5. LHLewis Howes
  Yep.
6. TBTim Ballard
  Yeah.
7. LHLewis Howes
  True Accounts of Slave Rescues Then and Now. So if you guys wanna learn more about how it got started, this is an amazing place to get started, uh, on this book, so check it out. We'll link this up as well. Tim, I'm grateful for you, man. I wanna ask you one final question. Um, and I think I asked you this before, but I'm curious your, your response now, about a year and a half later. Uh, it's called the three truths questions, hypothetical scenario. So imagine you live as long as you wanna live. You can live 100, 200 [laughs] , as old as you wanna be on this earth. Uh, and you accomplish everything you wanna accomplish in your life. You live the life you want to from here moving forward. You see it all happen. But for whatever reason, you've gotta take all of your written work, this interview, any videos that you have, any content that you've created out there in the world, it's gotta go with you to the next place. So we don't have your information anymore, of your written word, your audio, your voice, or any videos of you. But you get to leave behind three things you know to be true, three lessons that you would share with the world, and this is all we would have to remember your wisdom are these three things. What would be those three truths for you?
8. TBTim Ballard
  For me, I, I think number one would have to be, uh, that f- faith is, that faith is clarity.
9. LHLewis Howes
  Mm.
10. TBTim Ballard
  Um, and I don't... Everyone has their own idea of what that means. A higher power, right?
11. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
12. TBTim Ballard
  Um, faith in that is clarity. The, it, the world is so crazy and chaotic and confusing, and it's like, how do you even know it's true?
13. LHLewis Howes
  Yeah.
14. TBTim Ballard
  I can't trust any source anymore. And I happen to learn this because I'm trying to find children. It's, I'm, I, I, I have this desire and it's like I gotta cut through the crap and find the truth. That truth leads me to a kid. Then I've learned that if I don't turn to that higher source- I'm lo- I'm totally lost Yeah And I won't be able to make it because I, I'll be crushed spiritually, emotionally. So to me, I say f- faith- Faith ... is clarity. Mm-hmm. Faith is the answer. Mm-hmm. Like, trust that. I don't care if someone calls it their gut, everyone can call it whatever they want, but that intuition has been right- Mm-hmm ... almost all the time. Yeah. Or marry someone that has it, that- [laughs] Lean on them. [laughs] Have a g- have a good friend that has that, that, that, that piece. Um, two, um, I think we underestimate the power of service. Mm-hmm. I think service turns the lights on. Mm. Again, we all have darkness. Everyone's dealing with it, um, in some form, but there's a special thing that happens when you serve somebody. It's just, it makes you feel... I mean, just think about y- when, when you're out on the street and someone says, "Hey, where's, where's, you know, uh, Jones Avenue?" And you just take two minutes and tell them, s- you feel good. You feel good. Yeah, yeah. And you're almost like, "Why do I... That felt good." Yeah. [laughs] "I hope they, I hope they get there." Yeah. [laughs] It's like cycle fo- Like, you wa- That's, that's what it is. It's, that's a light that turns on, and it's actually, um, actually, m- Tony Robbins taught me this, but- Uh-huh ... y- when you serve and pray and meditate, any of those things, your brain literally releases a, a beautiful chemical cocktail that actually, like, makes you feel good. Mm-hmm. And then the studies go on to say that people who have that chemical reaction, uh, uh, tend to be people that display things like extra courage- Mm-hmm ... and extra creativity and extra love and, and it's, it's interesting 'cause it's not that the chemicals do that, 'cause they've tried to counterfeit those drugs and it doesn't do that. [laughs] Right, right, right, right. But what happens, it, it prepares your heart. Mm-hmm. It prepares your, your body and your soul to open up, and then the higher power stuff, 'cause how else can you get love, really, and- Right ... creativity? That's, that's an outerworldly kind of- Yes ... thing that comes to you. Creativity, courage, love. Mm-hmm. And but you can get it through serving. Yes. It's like God has set something up in your body that connects to, to, to the higher source, right? And so service is the key f- to me. If I, if I'm feeling down, if I'm... I remember I, I went through something horrible, um, in 2020. Like, just horrible, just, it, uh, this, uh, in- injustice completely that was happening to me and my family. And what, I didn't know, "What do I do? What do I do?" I'm gonna go into Mexico and just go undercover and find kids. And, uh, it was the only way I was gonna survive- Right, right ... this. And today, we have one of our best offices in that region. Wow. And we've done many, many, and includ- including the little boy I just told you about earlier. Right. He's in that region where I went. I took a team, and now we have an office, and it was the only thing that even got me out of the, just from drowning. Right. But it, it did. Serving people is magical. Wow. And it heal, it's healing. It is. You know? It's, it does so much, and if we all, if we were all doing it, we would eliminate all the problems. Yes. Like, we wouldn't be going to war, and we would just be loving each other, you know? That's it. Yeah. So service. Um, so service. And the third thing? The third thing, um, the third thing I would say is the power of forgiveness. Mm-hmm. True. Um, I've had to deal with that on, on many fronts. Like, I see people that hurt kids all the time. Gosh. And, uh, and if you let yourself, if you let yourself- It's a poison ... it's a poison. It, it will kill you. And, and just forgiving someone else, and it's hard sometimes, right? I've had, you know, it, it's, it's the craziest thing. You know, human trafficking became politicized somehow a, a couple years ago, and, and so it just became this weird, like, time and, and just you were open season if you were... Like, we, I, I came under crazy attack as part of that thing in 2020. It was like, just lies. Like, because we, just 'cause- Wow ... I guess anyone who gets a- and y- you're just exposed to it. Yes. And it's like it's hard enough that I'm almost widowing my wife and orphaning my kids, and then I get to come home to lies and- Yeah ... and p- and, you know, former employees who are just lying, you know, and, and because they got fired for, for cause. And, and it's just a lot of crap. Yes. And, and, um, if you don't forgive, you're gonna be just, you know, along with the service, just forgive people. Yeah. Like, love them. Love them. You can love anyone if you, you know, just, just try to love them. You know, pray to love. Pray for the feeling, but forgiveness is, is liberating. Yes. And, and I, you, you just, you're not gonna work. Yeah. You're not gonna be able to serve or do anything. Mm-hmm. So I guess those are the three most important things. Oh, Tim, you're amazing, man. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thanks again for coming on and sharing, brother. Yeah. Appreciate it, man. [gentle music] What your brain wants from you in relationship to a traumatic memory is indication that you're no longer vulnerable to the same problem. That's what memory is for, right? You remember something bad, and you process it so that you change your interpretation or your behavior or the situation or whatever you can change so that it isn't going to happen in the future. And that'll, if you do that thoroughly, you'll generally let yourself rest.