Set The Sex Slaves Free: An Interview With Daniel Walker

Undercover investigator Daniel Walker spent four years infiltrating the multibillion-dollar sex trafficking industry. His account of that work, and the candid story of his own spiritual journey during that time and since, is the subject of a powerful new book, God in a Brothel: An Undercover Journey into Sex Trafficking and Rescue. As he takes you into the very heart of the brothels, the communities and the corrupt systems that profit from and perpetuate human trafficking, Walker reveals an unimaginable horror and appeals to us—and the Church especially—to take on this cause and help set thousands of young women, girls and boys, free from lives of enforced slavery. Walker answered some questions for us about his work and his story. (For more conversation on God in a Brothel , visit the Patheos Book Club. ) What exactly, is sex trafficking, and how prevalent is it today? Sex trafficking is very simply coercion and deception. Trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery whereby deception is used initially to deceive or lie to the victim and once they're brought to a particular destination—sometimes that's across the country or across international borders to another country entirely—then the coercion kicks in and in many cases they're imprisoned or told they have a debt to pay before they can go free. It's estimated that there are approximately 30 million people enslaved in some form around the globe, and that in fact there are more people in slavery in our generation than any other time in human history. Many millions of those are in the commercial sex industry, which earns organized crime more than 32 billion dollars a year. And many of those are inside the United States. There are approximately 2 million children around the world who are sold every day as part of the global sex industry and 100,000 of those are inside the continental U.S. What do you wish more people knew about the sex trafficking industry? How huge it is, how prevalent it is, how many people it enslaves and how it is present in their own back yards. I don't suppose that as a boy you thought, I'm going to grow up and become a sex trafficking investigator. How did you decide to go into this dangerous and difficult field? As a new Christian at age 17, I was participating in the World Vision 40 Hour Famine to raise money for children who sell themselves on the streets to survive. As I read about these 13 year old girls I realized that my little sister was only 13 years old and I prayed a dangerous prayer; God if you can ever use me to set these children free, here I am. What did your work entail as an undercover investigator? Where did your work take you? Posing as a sex tourist or pedophile in Go-Go bars and brothels around the world in more than a dozen countries, including the U.S. You speak of a transforming moment near the beginning of the book where you move from seeing only the evil in the brothels to actually experiencing God in the brothel. Can you say a little more about that experience? I was afraid of my sin, the bad guys with guns and evil itself. But as I held this 15-year-old girl on the dance floor of a brothel, and prayed, everything changed. I suddenly saw her not as a threat to my professionalism or purity, but as a child in whose life evil had been allowed to flourish and consume. And I was filled with holy hatred for evil and anger at an indifferent world. I realized in that moment that I possessed sufficient evidence to prosecute all of the bad guys in that place and that if anyone was DANGEROUS in that place, it was me! They were the ones who needed to be afraid. And I was reminded that God was present in that brothel as much as he was present in any church, suffering with those who suffer, and waiting for someone, anyone, to show up in his name and rescue the oppressed and those enslaved there. Describe your first experience as an investigator. One of the first times I was deployed was to a small village in Southeast Asia. We had heard that young children were being sold as sex slaves. I went into the village posing as a pedophile. I had a former U.S. Special Forces soldier with me providing additional security. Within a few minutes of entering the village, we were offered two girls who were about fourteen years old. My companion seemed content with this, but I asked if they had anyone younger. The soldier looked at me incredulously while the pimp disappeared. He returned a short time later with two girls between six and eight years old. I was actually thrilled when he walked into the room with them. I was recording everything with a covert camera and knew that I had just gathered the kind of evidence that was necessary to send the pimp to jail and to facilitate the rescue of the children concerned. My training and experience ensured that I was able to keep the necessary façade going in order to gather the right evidence. It was only later back at my hotel that I wept. What one or two stories from your work especially stand out for you? I spent three days in another factory-style brothel in Southeast Asia where all of the women there were being held in captivity, having been lured there from surrounding countries with promises of legitimate employment. After I had purchased time with them and was taken to a back room, once they sensed that I may be able to help them, they began sobbing and pleading with me to rescue them and to contact their families to tell them they were alive and to let them know where they were. It was very distressing to see them in such a helpless situation and it only made me more determined to get them out. The second story that sticks in my mind is walking into a brothel and having women from Thailand, the Philippines, Latin America and China ordered to line up in front of me. These women were also in slavery and were unable to leave until their debts had been paid. The amazing thing for me was that this brothel was in suburban Las Vegas, Nevada, in the United States of America. What was the most difficult thing about your work? When we had collected all of the necessary evidence and were ready to act but corrupt officials tipped off the bad guys and when we got there, the women and children were gone and I returned home knowing they were still out there in the rape-for-profit industry. You lived constantly within the shadow of the twin dangers of violence and strong sexual temptation. How did this affect your spiritual life during those years? It made me cling to God and pray, knowing my life depended on it. And yet you did experience a heavy toll on your personal life as result of doing this work. Can you say a bit about that? Yes, ultimately the work destroyed me and my marriage. Why did you feel it was important to share the very personal side of journey as part of this book? I think it is important to be honest and authentic about it, because it gives others permission to be real about our weaknesses and our humanity and to together agree that we need not be defined by shame. It is also important moving forward that anyone engaged in this kind of work is properly cared for and only operates as part of a professional team. The evil that lies behind the enslavement of women and children is stronger than any one individual can overcome. But it is not stronger than the spirit of God who invades our lives and sends us out to invade the dark places and set others free. One chapter of your book is titled simply: "Men." It speaks to the unique role men play in creating and feeding this industry. What do you hope to communicate to men about this issue? Do you expect to change their minds about anything with this book? I don't expect to change the minds of those who prey on women and children. But I do hope to inspire and invite men to use their God given identity as defenders and protectors to rescue the weak and the vulnerable from oppression and slavery. Reading this book is really hard—your stories of entering brothels and being offered 5- and 6 -year old girls, encountering "sex tourists" who feed this industry, stories of entire villages making their living off of selling their children to predators—it's almost surreal. How do you suggest making this issue "real" for people, so as to more actively engage folks in this issue? The sad thing is that it is not surreal but very real for millions of people around the world every day. I cannot make it more real for anyone. If it seems surreal to them, then I suggest it is they who are living in a make believe world and it is they who should wake up and look out their window and venture into their very own towns and cities because it is everywhere, if they would only see it and act. In your book, you are critical of the church's inaction on this issue and others like it. And you've said you hope this book inspires us to "do church different." Why do you feel this is the church's cause to adopt, and how do you see it leading us to a different way of being and doing church? God makes it very clear that he hates injustice and slavery and that he calls his church to act on his behalf in a fallen world. Jesus came to set us free from everything that enslaves us, not just individual sin but literal slavery as well. The church is mandated, equipped and commanded to seek justice and that to know God necessarily means we are engaged in the fight to rescue the oppressed and combat slavery. You're currently touring the country and promoting your book on an " anti-trafficking tour." What are you hoping to accomplish with these events? To promote my book God in a Brothel , so that people would see what I saw and be inspired, motivated and empowered to act and do something about it. That the church would be mobilized and engaged and would once again be on the front lines in the fight to set human beings free from slavery and injustice. Are you still engaged in this work on a daily basis? What are you doing now? What's next for you? I am currently working as a detective in the New Zealand Police. And I am waiting. I am waiting to see what God will do through the book. I would love Nvader to take off. Nvader is a team of people who are able to empower church communities to use the skills and abilities that are already present within their congregations, to combat slavery in their own communities all around the world. Due to the security issues and potential danger and trauma involved, it has to be done properly or not at all. And it is expensive. I guess I am therefore waiting to see if enough people and churches catch the vision and whether it is something God wants to do now in our generation. Or not. Visit the Patheos Book Club to learn more about God in A Brothel and to find out what you can do to help end sex trafficking.

Set the Sex Slaves Free: An Interview with Daniel Walker