“It’s Happening Right Here,” Operation Underground Railroad Documentary Exposes Child Predators and Victims in Every U.S. Community

O.U.R. film warns parents about the ways sex traffickers are luring their children; country artist RaeLynn releases companion music video about the crisis

ANAHEIM, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#ChildSexTrafficking–Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is releasing “It’s Happening Right Here” on Tuesday, January 31, a shocking documentary that exposes the ways child sex traffickers are infiltrating nearly every big city and small town in the United States. The film, from DNA Films and director Nick Nanton, shows how O.U.R. and other non-profits are assisting law enforcement efforts in Michigan, California, Utah and other states to stop predators from sexually assaulting children as young as seven.

“It can be a scary realization, but we need to open our eyes to what is happening and spread awareness to everyone, especially parents with young kids who have access to the internet,” said Tim Ballard, O.U.R. Founder and CEO. “I encourage everyone to watch the film to educate yourselves about how prevalent this crime actually is and how to spot it.”

In 2021, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received 29.3 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation, an increase of 35% from 2020. “It’s Happening Right Here” offers behind-the-scenes efforts of law enforcement and technology experts to arrest child sex predators and try to prevent sex trafficking from happening in the first place.

The documentary includes interviews with survivors, including one girl who was trafficked starting at age 10 just a few blocks from her grandparents’ home. It also shows how parents are often unaware of how predators are using social media, online video games, websites and cellphone applications for luring, sextortion and trafficking.

“It’s Happening Right Here” was created and directed by 22-time Emmy Award winning director Nick Nanton and Emmy Award winning story producer Katie Tschopp. “We want to show parents how their children are vulnerable to child sex predators no matter how much money they make, where they live or even if they think they are taking every precaution to keep bad people away from their homes,” said Nanton.

Country artist RaeLynn performs “It’s Happening Right Here,” a companion song and music video that can be seen here. The documentary features insights about trafficking from federal, state and local law enforcement officers as well as non-profits O.U.R., Generate Hope and Humans Against Trafficking.

In the documentary, Ballard offers this warning to parents about child predators: “They’re looking for prey. They’re looking for their next victim. People comfort themselves by saying, that’s not me, that’s just in very, very remote, poor areas. It’s in every area. The only difference is in the more affluent areas, it’s undercover.”

“It’s Happening Right Here” is available on Amazon, Apple and Google Play, Vudu, and Fandango. Visit here to learn more.

About Operation Underground Railroad

Operation Underground Railroad is a nonprofit organization that works with law enforcement around the world to extract children from slavery and then place survivors on a path to recovery by partnering with vetted aftercare providers. O.U.R. will continue its rescue, aftercare and prevention programs, while leveraging research for new public and private support. For more information visit www.OURrescue.org.

#EndChildTrafficking #ChildSexTrafficking #ChildSexualExploitation #TheHiddenWar

Contacts

Operation Underground Railroad

pr@OURrescue.org

SnappConner PR

Cheryl Conner

801-805-0160