Former NFL star, minor league baseball player, and ESPN college football analyst Tim Tebow was on Capitol Hill Wednesday urging lawmakers to do more to fight child sex trafficking.
As CBN News reported, Tebow's foundation has been working for more than a decade to combat human trafficking and has helped to rescue 2,000 victims and bring more than 500 traffickers to justice.
"To sum it up, we strive to fight for people who can't fight for themselves," he said before lawmakers.
Tebow opened up his appeal before members of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance sharing that there are more than 50,000 unidentified boys and girls worldwide who have been sexually exploited.
He added that those unidentified children are being abused, raped, and tortured and their images and videos have been captured online, but no one knows who they are.
"They're unknown," he explained. "And until someone knows them how could someone rescue them."
According to his foundation, the U.S. hosts many of those websites that contain this harmful material – more than any other nation in the world.
Last August, the pro athlete campaigned to raise more than $1 million to raise awareness on the issue.
Tebow testified before the committee that his organization was part of an "incredible operation" last March that was able to rescue 316 victims of child exploitation.
"But that's a tiny dent," he told lawmakers.
He asked the committee to support a bill that would provide more resources to help victims.
"This bill really has one goal: to build a rescue team. Because there's so many frontline warriors and heroes, but there's just not enough. We need to support them and we need more of them to get to these 50,000 boys and girls," Tebow explained.
"I've had the privilege of playing for a lot of sports teams in my life and almost all of them had had incredible resources to win a game that doesn't matter," he added. "Why would we not give more resources to the frontline heroes that are going after the most vulnerable boys and girls on the planet?"
Tebow said there are "thousands of boys and girls starving for hope in our backyard."
He closed his appeal by reading a journal entry from a girl who was raped every night for seven years.
"In the middle of her abuse, this is what she writes, 'Rescue me. Help me. Monsters are chasing. Can't you see? Monsters are whispering. Can't you hear?'" Tebow read getting choked up. "'Monsters are shouting: 'You're nothing.' Can't you feel my pain? Monsters are pushing. End it all. Just jump. Can't you hear all the why's I'm asking? Monsters are laughing: 'You're all alone in this.' Can someone please rescue me?'"
Viewer Discretion Advised: “Voice for the Voiceless” House Judiciary Committee Hearing Testimony on behalf of child sexual abuse victims
Last night, I got a message from a girl who has been rescued and she said, “thank you so much for speaking up for us”…and it was… pic.twitter.com/HabteqT1tQ
— Tim Tebow (@TimTebow) March 6, 2024
"Every single one of those boys and girls is worth us answering the call and doing everything we can so that they can experience the faith, hope, and love that they deserve. Not the bondage and torture that they are in right now," Tebow expressed. "I believe that if we build that rescue team, we have a chance of getting to every one of those boys and girls."
"We have the chance to bring hope to those that are starving for it. If we are willing," he added.
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