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tv   The Stream  Al Jazeera  June 29, 2014 1:30am-2:01am EDT

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you are in the stream. thousands of children are being forced into sex trafficking in america. an fbi agent joins us to talk about the latest bust that freedom 169 kids from their pimps. how to reverse the troubling trend. plus new calls for more regulation on pet food as thousands of american's pets become ill and die as a result of what many believe are tainted products. millions of american homes are at ex treenail risk of natural disasters. are we spending billions because proper preventative measures aren't in
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place? % >> my co-host and digital producer is bringing feedback throughout the show. through the research, we have learned what a gigantic problem this is. it's so disturbing how it stays americans? >> this is a national tragedy. i don't think anyone would disagree with that. we asked our community: what can we do to help over the last pavan years. project innocence has rescued more than 3400 he children from sexual an exploitation: people could stop using the sex services. if the demand dries up, the traffickers will stop repleer issuing the supply efforts to crack down on child sex trafficking heightened this week as the f.b.i. rescued 169 children in a week-long poverty. the operation spanned more than 100 cities.
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agents say they also arrested 281 pumps. the department of homeland security estimates nearly 300,000 children in america are vulnerable to trafficking. many of the child victims ludics into prostitution have fragile home lines. >> i wanted someone in my life to show me attention about seven months after i had gotten raped a john and one who believed me. so that was my first beating. >> complicating the issue, when these kids go miss, many aren't even reported by their guardians. we will get into the why as well as what can be done to end this growing crisis. joining me is joseph campbell from the criminal investigation division out of gainesville, florida. 5 to 12, he was forced into sex
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trafficking and child pornography and from richmond, virginia. holly austin smith, a survivors of child sex tracking and oughtor of walking pray. how america's youth are vulnerable to sex slavery. joseph, 169 kids saved in a week. where are they coming from and missing? >> first of all, let me just say, lisa, that this is a national tragedy. these are america's kids. these kids come from all over. all aspects of society from poorer areas to middle income to affluent areas and they are targeted olbermann. they are targeted at schools. they are targeted at malls. i had an opportunity to hear holly speak, very compelling. kids are vul numberable, and as i said, these aren't all high crime at risk areas you might imagine these kids would be coming from? >> that's right.
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>> it is true kids who are from homes of neglect and abuse are more vulnerable and often, this mirrors the backgrounds of the pimps as well. >> i think it's inconceivable that a kid goes missing. >> well, actually, only in two states in the united states is it law, state law to report kids missing from foster homesets. homes. >> some come from various agencies. some may come from homes of abuse and neg neglect where it's not always reported when they are missing. >> these were profitturstituted. what was going on your home? how did this escalate? >> thank you for having me on. i was dysfunctioned like joseph spoke about. i was an at-risk child born into
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a family of alcoholism action domestic violence, child abuse and physical abuse. so, i was targeted by a pedophile who groomed me and eventually trafficked me in a ring of pedophiles. >> when you say "groomed", you say this is an adult that comes into your life and slowly gains your trust? >> well, you know, lisa, with pedophiles. when you are a child desperate for affection, desperate for love, the pedophile comes and, you know, gifts, takes to you sporting events, shows you the attention you never had in your life and that progresses over time. first, it's a hug and eventually, you know, you are being molested and then comes the emotional black male where they say, the blackmail and there are threats against your family, against your mother or your father or other family members. sot you don't talk about it.
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aur child bearing this burden. you can't speak to anybody. in my case, you know, this has been, you know, 30 years ago that this happened to me. i spoke, you know, several times, but at that point, we didn't have the education whereas we do today. so nobody listen today me. they said i was a melodramatic child, accident-prone and never gave me the time of day. >> we have a community that says the biggest risk factor is having a peer friend in it, not adult pumps or traffickers. it is a great way to ruin a budding young woman's life. they will never be the same. guess i am lucky for being a male and holly, you were trafficked when you were 14 years old, a young woman during the abuse, why do some of these victims? >> well, a lot of times, these
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kids have been where they have been exploited multiple times by the time they meet the trafficker. he is smart enough to look for kids who are vulnerable in that way. so, if you have experienced sexual abuse as a child, neg neglect, some kind of abuse in the home. that will turns into relationships that are sexually exploitative or violent and then you meet a trafficker, then he may not be able to see yourself as a victim. >> jerome, did your life look normal to people on the outside? >> mine did. i was still, you know, in school, in an environment. i was a shell of a person. i would be ib certain out of school and trafficked or, you know, after school and everything looked normal to everyone around me because at that point, people really signs.
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>> joseph, you are targeting rings and pimps, but how much bigger does this problem get when we factor in kids like jerome was that everything appears normal, they are not community. >> that's correct. in fact, in this operation that we conducted, we did come across a number of situations where it was essentially familial pimping, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, et cetera, who were trafficking these kids. so these kids essentially, as germ om noted are in situations. it's difficult for them to get out of this is their home. this is their family. >> that's one aspect of it that i think is very dark and very difficult for the kids and, detect. >> we have some pushback here from carol. she goes this is an operation that is measured on prosecutions and has no idea whoever minors are one day after the quote, unquote rescue. kids? >> go with that. what happens to the kids after
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they are rescued? how are they reintegrated? >> that's a very good question. we have a victim assistance component that works in regard to availing these kids of various services, food, clothing, shelter, medical care, psychological care, works, if it's appropriate to reintegrate them with families or other social services and then the national center for missing and exploited children also helps us to identify kids that we are not sure who they are or if they are missing, where they belong? >> hol led your story is a om's. you actually were lured out of family. tell us about the specifics of your case. what happened? >> sawyer. well, a lot of young teen aimers are going through some kind of troubles in middle school, for me, it was the transition between middle school and school. >> i was very distressed.
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i was struggling with the idea of losing my friends. i was afraid of getting beat-up in high school. >> comer, i was kind of reaching out to people around me and i met this man at my local mall. we exchanged phone numbers and talked on the phone for about two weeks and he said things myself. he said i was pretty enough to be a model and i was too mature for high school and he also painted this glamorous lifestyle that he led where he traveled across the country. he went to famous night clubs, met famous people and so, after about two weeks t sounded like a good idea to run away with him when he suggested it. >> uh-huh. >> and i was afraid enough of my life at home that i wanted to get away. but it wasn't just -- it wasn't lifestyle. he specifically targeted somebody who was struggling at home and would be looking to run
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away from home as well as run toward a new life. >> we conjure up images in our minds of the kind of people that would be predators on children and the images are -- is as ugly as the deed, itself. what kind of people were you being sold to? >> doctors, lawyers, influential people. in fact, in the recent cross country operation, for the people that was arrested is in austin suone the top 40 attorneys in austin. so these people, you know, are not really visible. these are stealth predators cloaked in respectability with teflon reputations that just, you know, and like in the case of sandusky where people came forward and the first victim that we want to his principal in the sandusky investigation, the principal said you don't want to get him in trouble. he is a great guy. when you have people with some respectability, it's your word against theirs. so, a a child, you never are never listened to.
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you are lost. >> do we have a question from our community in how do we reduce demand? how do people not know better than to rape youth? and joe, specifically, how do we reduce demand in the age of social media? instagram, facebook, twitter. is that increasing it or actually can we use it to decrease it? >> well, again, that's a tough question to answer, but we are working with various partners in law enforcement and in community organizations to encourage awareness so that people know when there is a possibility that this can become victims, parents know when their kids could be vulnerable and the message is there. the problem as holly noted is that these predators can go after these kids online as you said with facebook, other forms in order to get right to them and then there is various advertising medium like back page. we have the investigation against my red book which was very blatant as far as advertising for sex, et cetera. so limiting those kinds of accesses and availabilities can
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help to some degree. >> joseph, jerome and holly, thank you so much for being with us today. when we come back, thousands of pets are mist tourously getting i will and in some cases, even dying. raising concern among advocacy groups that toxic pet treats may be the culprits. why u.s. lawmakers are taking up the cause now and asking for clearer labeling that they believe will protect pets and people and later, as natural disasters continue to hit the nation, how prepared are we? a new studiy says millions of american homes are in jeopardy. stay right where you are. >> now inroducing, the new al jazeea america mobile news app. get our exclusive in depth, reporting when you want it. a global perspective wherever you are. the major headlines in context. mashable says... you'll never miss the latest news >> they will continue looking for suvivors... >> the potential for energy production is huge... >> no noise, no clutter, just real reporting.
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well, impac. sherad brown urged the white proce processing standards in china following the death of a thousand dogs. >> if something says it is made in cheney, can we be assured it's safe? if it says made in the u.s., what does at that mean? might urge the chinese government to great with those and make make significant improvements in nair their food safety system. i
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urged the u.s. da to determine the pet illnesses and ped. >> joining us tony corvo. on skype from brooklyn heights, ohio, terri sofranic. her dog died after eating what she believed were tainted pet treats from china. thank you for being here how long ago were th reported? >> the first reports of illnesses 2007. >> seven years ago? >> this issue has been going on for seven years. what the agency has done up to this point is through their website, advised consumers who owned pets not to feed their pets, important jerky treats and in particular, chicken jerky treats because of the illnesses and deaths that were reported. >> terri, senator brown, we
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mentioned him recently gave a floor speech. he relayed a conversation that he had with you about the loss of your dog, samson who decide of kidney failure after tainted pet treats. what led you to that conclusion? >> well, when he started to get sick at the end of between at the end of the year, my lively, happy, 9-year-old pup. there he is. and it was very separate that he was legitimatargic and withdrawn and his appetite stopped. bathroom. i took him to the several times in a week and after the first time, the second time we got a blood test and he was in full-blown renal failure which is, you know, something they usually see with toxic poisoning. you know, why --
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>> why did you think -- what led to you that connection? >> while it was happening he had to go in every day for iv fluids and he was fading fast and on t.v. though one of dog who died. they had a puppy from someone else and if he had it the same treats and meal the dog got sick. they put it together. they holding up the same bag even from the same store. >> hum. >> where i had got mine. >> tony, this issue goes beyond petfood for senator brown and others for your organization. you are asking lawmakers to address concerns. not just about the safety of pet food and animal treats and animal feed but chicken imported from china t seems like that can affect human consumption. >> in 2005, the united states department of agriculture proposed a rule to allow china
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to export processed poultry products to the united states for human consumption. our organization has been active in trying to block the implementation of that rule. congress intervened in 2007 and 2008 to prevent u.s. da. to this day, we still have -- haven't i am ported any pol tree from china. the issue, since most of the illnesses seem to be associated with pol tree pet treats indicates that there is something wrong with the pol tree in china. if it's killing our pets, what's it going to do to humanses here in the united states if we start importing pol refrom china? >> should the fda restrict imported? this beautiful cute puppy. i make your own meat-based food. amy says i am xwaish where pet treats are made and i make sure they don't get raw hide. beef bones are best for their teeth and we mentioned senator brown's call on president obama
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to investigate pet treats. your thoughts and dear senator brown, we have more concerns at hand, thousands are being murdered across the globe. president obama would do something if something had happened to his dog, bo. so, terri, look. this proposed amendment, how will this ensure that there are safer pet foods and a more reliable transparent inspection processes? >> we are pushing for the implementation of the food safety modernization act which has a section 211 in which the fda would require stores, retailers to post notices at the point of sale for things that have been indicated to have caused adverse reactions. >> if this was human food, would we be seeing a completely feds? >> i would think so.
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they claim, no. i have a feeling if a thousand people died from food that seemed to be imported from china action i think fda would at the very least issue an import refused's refusal. their ultimate weapon is what's called an import alert. >> there are somecrits who say this is being hyped up to hire u.s. manufacturers and u.s. manufacturers are sort of behind pushing the fear. do you see any truth to that? >> actually, what's happened here in this instance is you have u.s. manufacturers. the wagon train treats are a product of purina. they are importing cheap pol tree from china. so this is not -- this is not something the u.s. manufacturers are out there pushing.
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u.s. manufacturers are complicit in the schedule. >> reach out to nestle-purina and we will post that in full. thanks to our guests. still ahead. a new study shares some alarming results about how unprepared american homes are if natural disasters strike. why do we invest most of that money in repairs rather than in preventing damages in the first place? can we weather the storm before it hits? see you in two minutes. >> see then police are having stones thrown at them by the protestors >> an unpopular uprising... >> these...violations were part of a systematic tactics by venezuelan security forces >> brutal government crack downs >> the amount of anger here, you can see tensions between the two sides... >> is venezuela on the brink? fault lines al jazeera america's >> ground breaking... >> we have to get out of here... award winning investigative documentary series venezuela divided
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on al jazeera america front lineq
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only on al jazeera america ♪ welcome back. a new study about realty tracks which collects house data found 10.6 million u.s. homes are
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located in areas at very high risk from natural disasters. that's more than half of all of the homes in the nation. an experts say many households damages. it's more expensive to recover from disasters according to the world bank, global disaster related to global disasters have increased to 200 billion in the last decade. most of the funds rather than on damage prevention and preparedness. what can homeowners do to better prepare themselves? do we need to rethink our approach? earthquake deputy for nguyen. >> thank you for having me. >> when we hear half of u.s. homes are one of the determining factors being so at risk? >> there are many factors depending upon where you are in the country what your most
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catastrophic risk is. in california, we have risks for flood and wildfire. the one that could really over top our ability to respond would be earthquakes. >> now, are we investing in the wrong end of this, putting so much money in recovery and perhaps not putting enough in preparedness? if we did put more into preparedness, would we see huge economic gains? >> absolutely. i think preparedness and hardening your -- giving ready for any natural disaster will pay 4 to 1 dividends according to fema. for every dollar you spend in preparing and mitigating, you save $4 or the country saved $4 in response costs. now, it's difficult to get people to prepare, we found, because there is something that's going to happen in the future. there are people who are concerned with what's happening
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now. we have a lot of money on preparedness but public adoption is a chal en we continue to face. >> we told our community 55% of u.s. homes are in the highest risk according to realty tract. are you prepared, joan, not terribly prepared in d.c. for natural disaster? website. >> we had a quake. >> people freakedout. this is a map that shows you the places which are high risk, dark red, high risk is orange, medium is yellow. looking at the south and the east and this also useful, lisa shows you all of the major counties for natural disaster risks, all of the counties with highest natural disaster risk and with the lowest. >> probably good to know. >> montana and colorado. listen, indicate. i actually was here in d.c. i wasn't in san francisco for the 1989 earthquake. give me 3 steps an avenue
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american can take to protect their home. he specially in this recovering time when people dope have that much money. a lot of disasters, particularly earthquakes causing things ins your home to fall. >> makes has addressed for safety. it makes that big screen, you are not going to have at the end of the earthquake. there are things that are free and inex pencei to make your home safer. strap down big appliances. strap down that big screen t.v. you just bought. en smaller things. take high shelves and don't put your best china and your heaviest items up there. move them to lower shelves. clear the places that you spend most time. make sure there aren't falling hazards between you and your exit routes. do.
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>> we have less than a minute left. they may is a i don't live in an earthquake zone. talk briefly will how preparedness for the worst can help you in any natural disaster. >> we want a plan to be safe that you and your family of where you would relocate, a communication plan how you would be able to come back. organized. if there were a period when there are social services and supermarkets not available, you wouldn't have to seek a red cross shelter. you can shelter at home which everybody would prefer. >> kate long, thank you for your advice. we are out of time unfortunately. thanks to our guests. tony corvo, terri sophrannic. we will see you next time.
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>> east caracas, in the upscale neighborhood of altamira... an outpouring of anger at venezuela's government is met with a show of force. ...and we're caught in the middle of it. >> we've just seen tear gas being thrown. the police has showed up. everyone's running in this direction. >> since february, protesters have marched, blockaded streets, and fought running battles with the police. more than 40 people have been killed...over 3000 detained. >> so some of the protesters are now being arrested. but it's incredibly confusing. there's objects flying in all directions. er