Fighting Child Trafficking: Bazzel Baz on Rescuing America's Missing Children

In this powerful episode, hosts Neil Haley and Sherrie Price-Clark sit down with Bazzel Baz, a former Marine and CIA operative turned child rescue advocate and founder of the Association for the Recovery of Children. Baz shares the profound origin story of his mission, tracing it back to 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia, where he and his CIA ground branch team discovered two young girls hiding under debris during the Black Hawk Down era. That life-changing encounter led him to discover that 250,000 American children were missing at the time, with law enforcement lacking the resources, training, and communication infrastructure to address the crisis. By 1996, Baz made the extraordinary decision to leave the CIA and dedicate his life to rescuing children, establishing what is believed to be the longest-running anti-child trafficking NGO in the United States. Throughout the conversation, Baz reveals the staggering scope of child sex trafficking in America, emphasizing that the United States is the largest buyer of child sexual exploitation material in the world. He discusses his organization's remarkable 100% success rate over 34 years of operations, explaining their volunteer-based structure and covert rescue methods that prioritize operational security. Baz addresses the cross-pollination of child trafficking with drug cartels, terrorism, and weapons smuggling, while highlighting the complicity of previous administrations and the challenges facing current efforts to combat these crimes. He passionately advocates for the death penalty for child rapists, noting recent legislative victories in states like Florida, Alabama, and Idaho. The episode concludes with information about the organization's six-day "Fight Child Trafficking" equipping course available at recoveryofchildren.com, which trains citizens in rescue operations and their legal rights to protect children.