Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Survivor Helps Other Sex Trafficking Victims Break The Chains
GV-Wire-1
By Katie Burchfield
Published 7 years ago on
December 19, 2017

Share

Midnight phone calls, sting operations, and cooperating with witness protection are all the norm for Debra Rush. To speak with Rush is to become inspired to take up action against human trafficking.
Rush is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Breaking the Chains, a nonprofit organization that works with local, state, and federal law-enforcement agencies to provide rescue, relocation, restorative, and residential services to female victims of human trafficking.

“Many of these girls come from foster care or homes where they had no solid relationships.”

Human Trafficking is Happening All Around Us

Her stories are equal parts frightening and heartening, but her message is always the same, domestic violence and human trafficking is happening all around us.
“Human nature tells us that we need relationships in our lives,” Rush said. “Many of these girls come from foster care or homes where they had no solid relationships. They have serious trauma, abandonment issues, and detachment problems.”
Rush said that human need for relationships is what pimps prey on.
“The problem comes when the pimp takes on another girl,” Rush said. “Then the first girl stops getting as much attention, and she gets frustrated and tries to leave. That’s when the pimp starts beating her and threatening to kill her if she leaves.”

Rescuer is a Trafficking Survivor Herself

Often women are not ready or willing to testify against their attacker.

Rush knows how the human trafficking world operates because she herself is a survivor of human trafficking. When she rescues a girl from one of these situations, she knows all too well what they have endured, and she also knows that many of them are hesitant to speak out against their attacker.
Prosecution of the pimp is the key to ending the cycle of abuse, Rush said. But often women are not ready or willing to testify against their attacker.
“We advocate for the victims, but we also try to get them to cooperate with law enforcement,” Rush said. “We know it’s painful because you have to relive the trauma, but it is so healing to put an end to it and know that you are insuring this pimp is never able to do this to another girl.”

DON'T MISS

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

DON'T MISS

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

DON'T MISS

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

DON'T MISS

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

DON'T MISS

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

DON'T MISS

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

DON'T MISS

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

DON'T MISS

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

DON'T MISS

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

DON'T MISS

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

UP NEXT

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

UP NEXT

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

UP NEXT

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

UP NEXT

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

UP NEXT

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

UP NEXT

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

UP NEXT

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

UP NEXT

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

UP NEXT

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

UP NEXT

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

9 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

9 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

12 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

13 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

14 hours ago

Royal Caribbean to Launch First-Ever San Diego Cruises in 2026

2 days ago

What Is Field Hockey? Fresno’s Sikh Community Explains

2 days ago

Sean Combs Sues NBC Over Documentary That He Says Defamed Him

2 days ago

European Detour Destinations Are 2025’s New Travel Trend

2 days ago

California’s Aging Population Will Test Whether Its Demography Is Destiny

2 days ago

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

TORONTO — A badly injured child is among eight people who were hurt Monday when a Delta Airlines plane flipped upon arrival at Toronto’s Pea...

5 hours ago

A Delta Air Lines plane heading from Minneapolis to Toronto crashed at Toronto's Pearson Airport, Monday Feb. 17, 2025. (Teresa Barbieri/The Canadian Press via AP)
5 hours ago

Delta Plane Flips on Toronto Runway Amid Winter Storm

6 hours ago

Fresno Joins National Protests Against Trump Administration

Team United States fans cheer after their team defeated Canada in a 4 Nations Face-Off hockey game in Montreal, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
9 hours ago

Canadian National Anthem Booed, but Only Lightly, at 4 Nations Hockey Tournament

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, boards Air Force Two at the Philadelphia International Airport on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. Harris might have traveled on Friday to Philadelphia or Milwaukee for the umpteenth time, but motivating tuned-out voters in battleground states required something different. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
9 hours ago

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Be Honored by NAACP With Its Chairman’s Award

Downed trees cover the roadway toward South Jefferson Street from severe weather in downtown Tuscumbia, Ala., Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.(Dan Busey/The TimesDaily via AP)
9 hours ago

‘Life-Threatening Cold’ Expected as Polar Vortex Stretches Across US

12 hours ago

Where to Chill on the Cheap in the Caribbean

13 hours ago

Should Builders Permit Their Own Projects? Post-fire LA Considers a Radical Idea

14 hours ago

I Was a Bad Father. How Do I Live With the Regret?

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend