Interview with Julian Diaz - Mission 991 & Child Trafficking

Matt Darrah (00:01)

Hello and welcome to All Things Foster, a place for coffee, connection, and community. This is season one, episode six. And I want to take a minute to thank our sponsor, ETC Bookkeeping. ETC Business Services is a private company created in 2007 to manage bookkeeping, payroll, and tax services to help small business owners understand and manage their finances.

Janie believes the economic value small businesses add to keep our country strong and is grateful to foster and adoptive families who give children a safe place to grow up. It's her privilege to donate to help Panhandle Orphan Care Network provide services to these families. You can find Janie at www.etcjaniethomas.com or email her at Janie, J-A-N-I-E, at E-T-C-

JanieThomas.com. And I'll just tell you from a personal note that I am not an accountant by any stretch. And Janie's been super helpful to me trying to help me understand QuickBooks and things like that. So we're super grateful for her sponsorship. last week we had a great conversation with Bob Talley, ⁓ his journey where he shared his experiences fostering ⁓

their daughter and then adopting and everything was really, really special. So if you haven't heard it, check it out. So grab your coffee and join us as we welcome Julian Diaz to the podcast. Julian, thanks for being here today.

Julian (01:41)

Absolutely, thank you for having me.

Matt Darrah (01:43)

Yeah. So tell us a little bit. Well, first I'm going to say today's podcast tackles a sobering but urgent topic, child trafficking, and how we as foster parents and community members can be more aware, more equipped, and more protective of our kids. So Julian, tell us little bit about you and about ⁓ how you founded Mission 991.

Julian (02:10)

Yeah, thank you for the opportunity. I know that foster parents always hear a lot of those really, really scary statistics that are out there about human trafficking and runaways and all of that. so part of what Mission 991's goal is is to...

elaborate on the conversation around human trafficking because when people hear that they they think immediately sex trafficking because that's what hollywood has pushed everything else and that's absolutely a part of all this and it elicits a very emotional response from people which is why it kind of gets pushed out there as much as it does and it gets the focus that it does you know one is too many so as long as there's somebody out there that needs help we're going to continue pushing for that ⁓

One of the goals at Mission 991 is to increase that conversation or expand the conversation, I should say, from human trafficking to human exploitation because there's so many ways that people are just being taken advantage of and being exploited from labor trafficking to ⁓ grooming and sextortion, some of the topics we may get into today.

Matt Darrah (03:02)

Right. Right.

Julian (03:18)

There's a lot of things out there in this very, very distracting world kind of pulling on everybody's attention all the time. And that includes our children. And so we need to be smarter about how we go about ⁓ protecting our children. And so with Mission 991, I was doing a lot of work with another organization, ⁓ a much bigger kind of corporate-minded ⁓ organization nonprofit. And

Matt Darrah (03:26)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (03:45)

I saw the same problems that were frustrating me there as when I was a federal agent working for the government. That the police work, even though it's very necessary, and I absolutely support all of our law enforcement, it's one of the big things that we do here at Mission 991, it's still very reactionary. You're not doing a whole lot of proactive work. So it really ultimately feels like you're playing whack-a-mole. It's like you take down one group and they unfortunately just

Matt Darrah (04:03)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (04:15)

go and get more kids, more women, more whatever it is the product that they're selling and the cycle continues. So one of the things we're hoping to do at Mission 991 is to increase that awareness, like I said, to expand the conversation to human exploitation, as well as get rid of some of those myths, those Hollywood ideas of what human trafficking is so that people can be better prepared to defend themselves and their families.

Matt Darrah (04:40)

Sure. So why did you start Mission 991? mean, you said you were working for another nonprofit and you wanted to be more proactive. Is that why you started it?

Julian (05:02)

Yeah, also the organization, know, there's always ⁓ going to be some tension between how things are done, right? ⁓ So it's kind of nice to have my own organization at that point in time to be able to take one hat off and put the other one on and ⁓ just continue the work, right? Ultimately, I really wish, and you've probably experienced this in your organization as well, that all nonprofits could just link arms and really become an army for the

Matt Darrah (05:11)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Sure.

Julian (05:31)

the good of the community. Unfortunately, there's a very, there's a scarcity mindset among nonprofits, as well as churches and other community organizations. And so they tend to stay very isolated. They don't share information very well. And sometimes, you know, they don't play in the sandbox as well as they should. And so...

Matt Darrah (05:33)

Absolutely.

Julian (05:55)

It was kind of nice at that point in time to just have my own organization so that I could pursue some of the things that I felt were not being addressed. Part of that was the awareness part, ⁓ being out there because I don't believe in, ⁓ know, most of my work right now is in the Central and Latin American region, but I don't believe in going 2,000 miles away to go do something that you're not able to do or willing to do in your own backyard, right?

Matt Darrah (06:04)

Yeah.

Wow.

Sure.

Julian (06:23)

So this allowed me to work in my own backyard ⁓ and address some of those issues. One of the systemic issues that I see is the lack of mental health resources for at-risk victims or potential victims because there's a lot of, and there should continue to be, lot of resources for victims to address the healing necessary once they're identified as being exploited, ⁓ once they're identified as human trafficking victims.

it takes a lot of resources to ⁓ begin that healing process, which is oftentimes a lifetime of healing and work. ⁓ But there's also a lot of individuals that need assistance. And this can go into the conversation there with fostering, because part of what I do is assist local law enforcement and assist families that don't feel like their case is being heard ⁓ to find their missing people.

Matt Darrah (06:57)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Julian (07:22)

And a lot of times we'll find these missing youths, return them home, and then that's kind of the end of the story. But there's a reason that this child felt unsafe. Or maybe they weren't running from something, they were running to something. But regardless, that needs to be addressed, right? ⁓ So more resources, I think, on the proactive side of things before the years of exploitation occur.

Matt Darrah (07:36)

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, absolutely. So when did you start Mission 991?

Julian (07:51)

Well, it's been probably about four years or so. ⁓ 2020 was a year that really kind of blew the lid on a lot of the digital exploitation that's been going on. There was a 26 % actually, yes. I always like to have my numbers open because I don't like just throwing arbitrary numbers out there, but.

Matt Darrah (08:04)

you

Mm-hmm.

Julian (08:17)

It was an immediate 26 % increase in the number of digital human trafficking exploitation cases that centers were getting. those numbers, that's a very conservative number. A lot of it kind of goes up from there. with people being locked at home, a lot of people went online to address their boredom, their needs, their isolation, their depression. And we all know that

Matt Darrah (08:30)

you

Julian (08:45)

pornography continues to be a huge problem, not just for men but women across the world in United States. And so that led to an uptick in exploitation on the digital side of things. So it was about that time that I started wanting to really increase the awareness on parental controls and so many parents out there just feel so overwhelmed by...

Matt Darrah (08:50)

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (09:11)

the apps and the programs and they feel like they need to have a computer science degree to control these things. My response to those parents is, if you're that overwhelmed, just take them away. These kids do not need to have all this access. ⁓ But if you're not going to, then there are some very easy steps that parents can take to ⁓ shore up those defenses at home.

Matt Darrah (09:18)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right. Wow. So

about four years. ⁓ No, about five. You said 2020.

Julian (09:44)

For Mission 991, yes. So I joined the military when I was 17 as a military police officer. I quickly rose because of the war. A lot of things were moving at a very fast pace. And so I found myself at the age of 19 as a sergeant and getting placed on a narcotics team. And from there, I started working with the Criminal Investigation Division, CID.

Matt Darrah (09:49)

Mm.

Julian (10:09)

And that's where I was exposed to a lot of this. ⁓ I won't claim to have done a ton of work in all of it there in CID. However, that was an exposure to just the severity of the issues. That and I grew up as a farm worker, as a Hispanic migrant farm worker. And so I saw the labor side of things. I saw some of the struggles that families were going to and the lengths that some parents will go through to

Matt Darrah (10:11)

Mm.

Julian (10:38)

to put food on the table. so, you know, seeing all of that, then going through the global war on terrorism, many years of kind of going back and forth, and I stepped away from it for a little while, because I was, you know, in Iraq or Afghanistan, dealing with evil, because that's essentially what we're discussing, a certain way.

Matt Darrah (10:39)

Sure.

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Julian (11:01)

And then 18 hours later, I'd be home and I'd have to be careful how I put the handcuffs on. I'd have to read you your Miranda rights and all that. I'm like, guys, like, evil's evil, And so I walked away from it for a while, kind of frustrated with the system. And it was years later as a pilot that individuals from that world still knew my name and still knew me. And so they started calling me to see if I would work.

Matt Darrah (11:06)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (11:29)

with them because I had already done a lot of work with nonprofits previously and so I was able to join up with some of these guys that were just doing some fantastic work and it just kind of snowballed from there.

Matt Darrah (11:33)

Mm.

Right. Wow. That's awesome. So, help us understand the scope. What does human trafficking look like in our country? mean, everybody talks about it, or some people at least talk about it, as a problem over there. you know, that's not happening here. mean, what is the scope of trafficking?

Julian (11:46)

Thank

Yeah, that's a great question. And unfortunately, when you start to dig into it, and you know, it's not something that we're going to be able to lay out entirely in one podcast, but hopefully this will intrigue some people to get in the books or start doing their own research. And you're going to find various numbers. ⁓ They're very skewed sometimes depending on where you're getting what sources you're pulling from, because the reality is that this is a very underground kind of dark network.

Matt Darrah (12:19)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Julian (12:40)

kind of stuff that we're talking about, Nobody wakes up one day and they're like, hey, know what I want to be when I grow up? I want to be a human trafficker, you know? Or be trafficked or whatever. So there's definitely a skew to the reporting and the statistics. So I just want to say that up front. But from what the United Nations and a lot of these other organizations have pulled together, there's estimated right now about 46 million people that are in

Matt Darrah (12:41)

Mm-mm.

Yeah, right.

Mm-mm.

Julian (13:07)

involved or victims of human trafficking of some sort. that, I mean, you we're talking the population of the state of Idaho, right? And the rebranding that has occurred. you know, we've had a previous conversation and I know we kind of see eye eye on some of the spiritual side of things as well. ⁓ You know, human trafficking to me is it's when

Matt Darrah (13:10)

my gosh. Wow.

Right.

Mm-mm.

Julian (13:35)

the spiritual warfare kind of bleeds over into our physical realm, right? Because ultimately, regardless of where people stand spiritually, you can't deny the fact that it's when an individual has been broken in mind, body, and soul. And ultimately, what we're talking about is slavery. But it's been rebranded.

Matt Darrah (13:39)

Yeah.

Mm.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, mean,

it's just slavery by a different name, yeah.

Julian (13:59)

And so it takes many, many forms. ⁓ And it's a very kind of complicated issue because of that. One of the places I'll direct people is the Polaris Project. If they go to PolarisProject.org, I believe it is, then you'll, there's a lot of statistics on there. They do a great job of putting up like ⁓ the most frequently spoken myths about human trafficking and then kind of a response to them. So it's a really good place for people to get educated.

Matt Darrah (14:10)

Mm.

Julian (14:29)

One of the things they do also is every single year they'll put up the 25 most common industries that involve human trafficking. And again, there's sex trafficking, and then there's labor trafficking and other various forms of exploitation. Statistically by numbers, labor trafficking is the biggest problem. But again, sex exploitation is where an individual is being

forced into sexual acts through forced fraud or coercion. And that kind of elicits that bigger ⁓ emotional response from people, right? So some of those industries though would really surprise people. mean, some of them are ones that people would immediately think of, massage parlors or ⁓ agricultural pornography. These are all industries, right? That people need to understand when they participate.

Matt Darrah (15:06)

sure.

Mm-hmm.

No.

Julian (15:26)

say pornography, it's not a victimless crime. Like you're not just logging in and woohoo, high five, right? Like there's someone else on the other end of that camera. And that person has a story, they have a name, they have a family. And you have to really understand the kind of spider web that goes out from there. And ultimately it always comes down to the money, right? That's what it tracks down to. So the Polaris Project is a fantastic place to get some more information on that sort of thing. But there are...

Matt Darrah (15:32)

Right.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Julian (15:55)

know millions of individuals around the world that are being again the definition of human trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion being coerced or forced into labor or sexual acts that go against what you know their wishes against their free will.

Matt Darrah (16:13)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Whew. That's the heavy stuff, man. It was heavy. ⁓ So, do you know the...

Julian (16:18)

Mm.

Matt Darrah (16:27)

What is it that makes a kiddo more susceptible or vulnerable to being trafficked? mean, are they looking for something? What is it that draws kids into being trafficked?

Julian (16:48)

Yeah, that's a great question. It looks different for every single person, but the way that I address this is I see it kind of the industry of human trafficking for people to understand from micro to macro, right? So down from the individual on the other end of a screen being groomed all the way up to the monstrous industry of human trafficking and exploitation that's occurring across the world. And it really is an industry. I mean, it's

billions of dollars every single year.

Matt Darrah (17:17)

Right.

Julian (17:20)

so when we're looking at the industry of human trafficking, if you think of kind of like a three-legged bar stool, right, it's very sturdy. But if you take one of those legs out, the whole thing topples over, right? So within that, you've got the traffickers, kind of the, I always tell people, know, I won't say any names, but like think of the largest real, ⁓

like storefront that you can think of, right, ⁓ across the world. And then you decide one day, I'm gonna take them out of business. Not compete with them, but take them out of business. How would you approach that, right? So on one hand, you gotta make it harder for them to set up their business, right? Harder for them to market, harder for them to tell the world that they're there, right? Because you wanna cut the money off. And so...

Matt Darrah (17:46)

Mm-hmm.

Mm. Mm.

Mm. Yeah.

Julian (18:11)

You do that through legislation, do that through ⁓ increasing ⁓ police law enforcement capabilities and all of that. That's the bigger, bigger picture. ⁓ The other thing, so that's one leg. And then the other leg is addressing the clients. So I don't care how I do it at the end of the day. Like I said, I do a lot of work with Central American countries. It's not that we're like isolated there, but through...

Matt Darrah (18:20)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (18:36)

connections and just demand. It's what draws most of my time and energy right now. ⁓ So we have some memorandums of agreement with various law enforcement entities there. And so we assist them with intelligence gathering operations and training so that they can increase their ⁓ capabilities, right? A lot of times these traffickers, especially when we're talking about sex trafficking in the Caribbean, Latin American region.

Matt Darrah (18:56)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (19:02)

They're catering to Americans. So it takes an American to come down there for them to really ⁓ interact with So we'll go down there and do that and so ultimately and at the end of the day when we're talking about these clients I don't care why they're no longer engaging in human trafficking or purchasing peddling flesh, you know, there's different ways people say about it, but ⁓ so if through arrests and

Matt Darrah (19:04)

Mm-hmm.

Mm. Mm.

Julian (19:30)

putting out in social media and news networks that this is being aggressively attacked. They turn away out of fear. Fine. I don't care at the end of the day. ⁓ But ultimately, you know, it involves just bringing back that moral compass, the ethics and morality to the family, to where we can teach our children who will one day become adults that you just don't treat another human being that way. Right. And it starts with just bringing Jesus back into the home. Right.

Matt Darrah (19:37)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

For

sure. ⁓

Julian (19:59)

And

so that's the simple answer, but not easy, right? The simple answer is just bring Jesus back into the conversation and we can ⁓ address a whole lot of these issues. Now, the third leg of that is the victim themselves. And that's ultimately what we're talking about, So with the victim, you also have needs. And what happens is that the traffickers, the groomers, they will

Matt Darrah (20:05)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (20:28)

become that need for that individual. So we all have needs and again, I see it as a kind of a tripod is it's mind body and soul, right? So if I'm physically needing something, so I don't have a whole lot of ⁓ money resources, then the trafficker becomes the money, they become the resources. If I have physical wants and needs like new pair of shoes, ⁓

Matt Darrah (20:30)

Mm.

Mm.

Julian (20:58)

that whole glamour and all that, that's what they become. And they'll do that until they kind of get that hook in, right? And then if they're kind of weak in mind, then you're just kind of susceptible to being groomed anyways, because you just don't have the information. But when it comes to children, now we're talking about maturity, right? So a lot of these children just aren't mature enough.

Matt Darrah (21:01)

Hmm.

Yeah.

Mm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (21:23)

And that's why they need these protections and parents need to be more actively involved. When we're talking about these devices, it's a two way street. And I put it to my daughter this way because this is all stuff that I deal with at home as well. I'm looking at her. She was arguing with me. She was probably 14 at the time or something. And I'm like, you wouldn't feel safe if I went and dropped you off in the middle of a bus station at 2 AM.

Matt Darrah (21:29)

Mm.

Yeah.

Julian (21:52)

surrounded by 500 strangers, right? And just left you. Like, why would I do that as your father? And you wouldn't feel safe there either. Are all 500 of those people going to hurt you? No. Some of them are even going to step in and protect you. But there are individuals in that crowd that, given the opportunity, would take advantage of you, right? ⁓ And that's just statistics. That's just the numbers. And

Matt Darrah (21:54)

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Mm-mm.

Yeah. ⁓

Mm.

Julian (22:21)

When you open that device, you go to your bedroom and you're in isolation, you close that door, that's exactly what's happening. And it's even worse because digitally, our children can be targeted. So every time that username comes up, that groomer, that person gets an alert and they know, ⁓ Suzy's online, Jessica's online. And so they can target that individual.

Matt Darrah (22:29)

Yeah.

Julian (22:45)

And of course, those targeting campaigns are getting more sophisticated with the introduction of AI and things like that. ⁓ So there's the maturity and mental side of things and just the awareness of it. And then there's also the spiritual side of things, because they're one of the segments of human trafficking that isn't spoken about a whole lot anymore, but you still see it rise here and there, is the kind

cultish behavior, or the use of ⁓ religion sometimes to entice or control individuals. And that takes on various forms. There's a pretty big case that just came up in Guatemala that we assisted with about a year ago ⁓ involving a Jewish synagogue kind of thing. There were some out in Utah with the Mormons, some of the more traditional.

Matt Darrah (23:20)

Mm-hmm.

wow.

Julian (23:42)

you know, sex there. There's obviously the Muslim community we've done a ton of work with in like the Middle East and stuff like that with some of the abuse and exploitation that occurs there. And as well as some of the satanic cults, some of the, we still today, I mean, this is 2025 and we're still dealing with cases in South Africa and regions like that where there's child sacrifice and things of that nature. So that's,

Matt Darrah (23:50)

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Wow. ⁓

Julian (24:11)

completely on one end of the spectrum, there's everything in between as well. And I'm not calling out individual peoples or cultures, but it's a global issue.

Matt Darrah (24:18)

Hmm. Right.

Yeah, it absolutely is. Yeah, you said 46 million, right? 46 million kids in, or people that are being trafficked. I mean, that's just awful. So in my thought, how many? 26, okay, 26, I thought it was 46, but still, 26 million is a lot of people.

Julian (24:25)

I believe, yeah. Yep.

I'm sorry, 26 million. 26 million. I misspoke.

You know, I'd say 46 is probably closer to it. Like I said, it's so under-reported.

Matt Darrah (24:49)

Yeah, yeah. And you only have the numbers once you catch them, basically, right? And then, you know, so in my thought, ⁓ children that are in foster care have...

I would think that they would be more susceptible to being groomed than say a child that's been with his parents in a safe and loving stable home their entire life. you? I mean, that would be an accurate statement, right?

Julian (25:25)

Yes, and the reason that I believe that's true is that when I deal with some of the victims and we talk about some of these things, a lot of it is rooted in identity. And I believe a lot of these kids, when they move around as much as they do inside the foster care network, they lack an identity. there's always, I mean, it's inside all of us that we want to be accepted. And so. ⁓

Matt Darrah (25:37)

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (25:53)

when you're moving from place to place, see this all the time in military families as well, know, just growing up in the, or having been in the military, that kids will go to extraordinary lengths to fit in. And that really exposes them to a lot of ⁓ malicious behavior or illicits that, you know, well, how far are you ready to go, you know?

Matt Darrah (26:00)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm.

So there's a whole process in getting a kid that I don't know into a situation where they're being trafficked, right? And so there's this, they call it grooming, right? So there's this whole grooming, kind of if you can, lay out what does that look like. ⁓

Julian (26:19)

.

Matt Darrah (26:46)

Kids go into a chat room, are they just liking and commenting on videos on YouTube? What does the process of being groomed kind of generally look like?

Julian (27:02)

Well, all the above, right? So when think of in your life the last time that you encountered a salesman that just was really, really good at his job, right? You walk in wanting to buy a white minivan and you walk out with a black four by four F-150, right? So we are all susceptible to

Matt Darrah (27:12)

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (27:30)

a certain level of manipulation, enticement, motivation, right? And that's what's happening to these kids. And again, I got to go back to when we're talking about the kids, it's a maturity thing as well. ⁓ And one of the biggest problems is the identity crisis that's gripping our culture today, especially in the United States, but across the world. And I believe part of that comes from, you know, if I grow up in small town Alabama,

Matt Darrah (27:40)

Mm.

Julian (28:00)

then chances are by the time I'm 18, 19 years old, I look like, talk like, dress like small town Alabama, right? Because that's the identity there. And when you introduce the internet, which a lot of people fail to realize, especially children today if they're listening, that they think the internet was just always there. We still don't know what the long term effects of all this exposure is for.

Matt Darrah (28:07)

Mm-hmm. Right.

Yeah.

Julian (28:27)

people, for families, for our community and culture. Because it really wasn't accessible on that level till 2005-ish. And then it really blew up in 2020 again. Like that was another kind of spike. So we still don't know what the long-term effects of this is going to be on our culture. But what I'm seeing in the work that I do is that there's a lack of identity.

Matt Darrah (28:30)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (28:53)

children for the most part, they're little bad idea factories. It's like their job, right? And it was for us too growing up. like I had this really terrible idea. In my mind, I'm like, dude, this is going to be so cool. Yeah. So then you have these certain levels or ⁓ gateways, right? So I tell my friends, they're like, dude, that's stupid. Don't do that, right? Or they hype you up, one or the other.

Matt Darrah (28:57)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (29:20)

And then you got your siblings, you got your aunt, your uncle, your mom, your dad, your coaches, your teachers. And if you're from, again, just kind of small town Alabama, then most of them are going to be in line with each other, right? ⁓ In their way of thinking and what we do here. ⁓ And there's good and bad to that, but we can't be so naive about the bad, the other side of this coin, because what's happening today,

is kids come up with a bad idea, their parents tell them, I don't like that answer. So I'm going to go talk to my friends at school. Well, maybe they say no. All right. Well, I still don't like the answer. So I'm going to go online. And now I'm going to find 500 weirdos. I'm small town Alabama talking to inner city people from LA or New York City who have no concept of what it's like to

Matt Darrah (29:58)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (30:18)

to be me in my small town. And they have no skin in the game. They couldn't care what happens to you. But you find 500 of them that tell you, that's a great idea. That's amazing. You shouldn't listen to your parents. They're small minded. They don't know what they're talking about. So we end up with this culture today of people shopping around.

Matt Darrah (30:31)

Right, yeah.

Julian (30:43)

for the answers that they're looking for. I think that that's impacting our children the most because they lack that maturity. They don't have that identity concrete yet. And they're still kind of ⁓ just reaching for it. So when groomers encounter these individuals, it's that small hook. And then it just starts off as a conversation because most of our children, stranger danger. Well, we play a video game together for a while.

Matt Darrah (30:52)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (31:12)

I'm not a stranger anymore, right? Like I'm your buddy, you can tell me. And then they start to open up, well, you know, I'm really upset with my mom right now. you know, I really wish that I had new shoes. It's embarrassing when I go to school and this and that, and then say, well, you know, I'll take care of you. And so they developed this trust and then it kind of goes from there. on the, and right now I'm kind of focused in talking about like the sexual exploitation that occurs.

Matt Darrah (31:13)

Right, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (31:40)

because

one of the things that parents need to get more understanding of is sex-tortion. there's obviously, it's rare, but it does still occur where an individual will be sexually exploited physically. But it's becoming way, way, way more common to see digital exploitation occur.

Matt Darrah (31:47)

Mm. ⁓

Mm.

Yeah,

I worked with a guy and his wife as a principal at a... It was an elementary school that went up to sixth grade, I believe. Whatever, the child was in sixth grade and, you know, the boyfriend asked her to send him a picture. And then that picture ended up all over the school, right? And so, you know...

that they had to involve the police. It was a huge, huge mess. So yeah, it happens everywhere.

Julian (32:44)

And it's a large uptick in youth going to the extremes of suicide and other things like that, just out of shame and guilt over these events. ⁓ I want to tell ⁓ parents that they, so there are some tools available. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NKMEC, N-C-M-E-C.

Matt Darrah (32:52)

Mm-mm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (33:09)

If you go to their website, they have lot of training tools. They even have videos like cartoons in multiple languages that you can show. ⁓ Even elementary age kids. they can, they kinda in a cartoon way teach them like, would this be a good idea to share online? Would this be okay if someone asked me to do this? And they can kinda go through and look at some of those resources.

Matt Darrah (33:20)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (33:37)

One of them also is they have individuals that can assist in retrieving some of that digital information. Yeah, so if like a picture or a video gets released out there, they can pull that information. It's not, you know, it's the internet. So we have to be realistic of the capabilities, but there are people out there that are trained in doing that. And another resource that I'll give people is protect young eyes.

Matt Darrah (33:44)

really?

Mm.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (34:05)

ProtectYoungEyes.org is, I have no affiliation with them, I just think that they have a fantastic product. ⁓ They have a website, it's a Christian-based organization, and what they do is evaluate all these apps. So if your kid comes home and says, you know, I'm on Kick Kick or whatever, and I just totally made that up, but it could be something real. ⁓ And as a parent, you're like, what? What is that?

Matt Darrah (34:24)

Mm-hmm. Right.

Yeah.

Julian (34:31)

You

can go there and they have all these applications, games and things like that and they do a very good job of kind of giving you layout of like pros and cons and potential issues with it. They have some training information there as well. So there are definitely resources that people can go to. Another one that you can do is Google Dirty Dozen and that one is the, I want to get it right, the...

Endsexualexploitation.org. Dirty Dozen is a list that they put up every single year where they will address kind of big corporate mindset. So these are individuals that will go and fight at Capitol Hill. So I'm a grunt, you know, like I talked about. I grew up in the Army and I'm still out there just kind of slugging away where I can at this problem.

Matt Darrah (35:23)

Mm. Yeah.

Julian (35:31)

it seems like we're not gonna get anywhere sometimes. I was just talking to the team that I work with in Central America and the way that they're kind of down, motivation is hard to keep up sometimes when you're dealing with all of this. But I tell them, it's kind of like going to the ocean and trying to empty the ocean with a water bucket. It sounds ridiculous, right? You're never gonna put a dent into the ocean. But if I scoop up a fish,

Matt Darrah (35:51)

Hmm.

Julian (35:59)

that it's a life-changing event for that fish, right? So we got to keep it focused on that one, on that individual. And so when we do that, we can kind of focus those resources. And ultimately, that's where Mission 991 comes from. You know, I named it after Matthew 18, the parable of the sheep. So we leave the 99 to go after the one. Because ultimately, the resources, the time, the energy, if it works once, we got to keep going, right?

Matt Darrah (36:00)

Yep. Yeah, absolutely.

Right.

Absolutely, yeah.

Julian (36:28)

And ⁓ this organization, For the Dirty Dozen, ⁓ in 2020, they're a collection of lawyers and attorneys, and they do the stuff that I can't do, right? But it requires a team. And they released in 2020 all these Chromebooks. So all the schools went online, and they just gave everybody a Chromebook. And there were no parental controls on them, nothing.

Matt Darrah (36:39)

Right.

Ahem.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Julian (36:57)

And so they went after Google. They'll go after Apple. They'll go after these huge organizations. And they're now the reason that they were one of the motivators for all those changes that occurred to where all those Chromebooks have parental controls on them.

Matt Darrah (37:00)

Hmm.

Julian (37:14)

So to go back to the original question, how does somebody kind of fall into that grooming? really just depends on the individual and what they open up about. And some of these organizations, I won't say all of them, some of them are literally just that guy in grandma's basement still just plugging away at a computer and getting what he can get.

Matt Darrah (37:27)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (37:41)

But there are some of these networks that are incredibly sophisticated. ⁓ And there's a group of 15 individuals sitting around a table. And I've seen where they will entice somebody and start kind of that conversation. And I had a case where ⁓ this woman, so the husband came to me and said, hey, I've got $14,000 missing from my bank account. Can you look into this?

Matt Darrah (37:44)

That's

Mm.

Julian (38:11)

And the wife had engaged in a kind of like an emotional relationship, I guess you could say online. So nothing physical, but they she was talking to this guy that she thought was her friend. And then that led from one thing to another to, well, you know, I'm a single dad. I'm struggling. I don't have money for my kid. I'm just doing my best, that sort of thing. So 20 bucks here for gas.

Matt Darrah (38:18)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (38:39)

200 bucks here for utilities, you know, it just kind of snowballs ⁓ and then I get involved and I immediately identify the photographs of the individual that she thought she was talking to were actually from a lesser known reality TV show guy and So that was immediate, you know red flag number one ⁓ if there weren't already enough in this but then I end up finding the the true identity of this individual is a

Matt Darrah (38:42)

Right.

Hmm.

Julian (39:08)

350 pound Kenyan woman that she thought was this built jacked, know, 30 year old guy. And what happens is they're sitting around a table and this is their job. Like people don't realize this. This is what they do for a living. And there's 10 of them around the table and I've seen it as sophisticated as, well, you know, my sister would really like to get to know you. And then they kind of point around the table and like, hey, you know.

Matt Darrah (39:15)

Yeah.

You

Julian (39:35)

So they, that person across the table is now the sister in the equation and they'll build this whole fake life. And when 35, 40 year old professionals, I I'm talking teachers, lawyers, I've done some work with a, there was a doctor, they fall for these things because again, we're all human. We all have spiritual, physical and emotional needs. And when you're in that crisis,

Matt Darrah (39:39)

Mmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (40:05)

and searching, it's easy to latch on to that sort of thing. And then these individuals will kind of pull them in, and if they can get a photograph, if they can get a video, then like you said earlier, they'll start holding that over your head. Well, if you don't give me what I want, then I'm going show your parents, I'm going show your school. Everyone's going to know what you do.

Matt Darrah (40:08)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah. Interesting. So are there, what are some of the most used, or is this even available? I don't know. The most used apps that groomers tend to use. Is there, I mean, is it just all of them? Is there some that are more specific than others?

Julian (40:46)

.

All of them, honestly. So one of the things that parents should always keep an eye on is user-generated content, UGC. So any app, any application at all that has user-generated content has the potential for ⁓ exploitation as well as pornography and other things like that. ⁓ I'm not sure if they shored this up yet. I hope that they did. But at one point in time, or still even Spotify,

was allowing people to upload things. And their program would catch the audio because they didn't want copyright issues with their music and stuff like that, But there was nothing in place to check their videos. So people were uploading pornography with other audio attached to it. And your kids would be opening that up. ⁓

Matt Darrah (41:26)

Really?

Julian (41:50)

Another one was Apple. Again, I'm not sure that they were on the Dirty Dozen list last year for this, but there were no checks and balances to uploading content. So if I create an application, they do have parental controls, right? So you can say nothing. My kid can only download stuff up to the age 10. Well, who decides age 10, right? What's appropriate? So they were allowing people to upload apps and assign their own categories to them.

Matt Darrah (42:06)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Right, yeah.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Julian (42:19)

Without kind of vetting that so anything

with user-generated content is an immediate red flag ⁓ Anything that allows chats and things the a lot of these groomers will try At the first opportunity to get to move the conversation So they'll link up with roblox is terrible for this So a roblox is ⁓ a game that kids will jump on and play and they have sex parties

Matt Darrah (42:41)

Mm.

Julian (42:48)

on there. I mean, it's all digital, but they'll dress up like furries and jump into these chat groups. And they'll meet up in certain location within the like Roblox world. And they'll start this conversation and try to move it off of that platform. And a lot of times where they're going for is platforms that are end to end encrypted because, yeah.

Matt Darrah (42:49)

Mm.

Hmm.

Right, like signal or something like that.

Julian (43:18)

Signal, WhatsApp became owned by Facebook and Facebook Messenger is actually now end-to-end encrypted as well. And it was a huge thing that people fought because we, I say we, but the ⁓ tip lines, national tip lines used to get a lot of tips from Facebook. Well, now it's end-to-end encrypted. So, know, big corporate Facebook can wash their hands and say, you know, I don't know anything about that.

Matt Darrah (43:20)

Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Yeah, yeah.

Julian (43:48)

So there's no accountability there. That's kind of what I think parents should immediately look for. To me, at the end of the day, there's no good reason for children to have that much access 24-7, unsupervised.

Matt Darrah (44:04)

Yep. I

agree. So. ⁓

So how do they, ⁓ I mean, I personally tried various parental controls and this, that and the other thing and we continued to have issue after issue, I'd find out about this and then figure out how to block that and find out about that, know, but are there good ways that will prevent and stop a chunk, like a good percentage or is there?

You have recommendations on that?

Julian (44:40)

Yeah, ⁓

there are apps and programs out there. Some of them are paid. One of them, as an example, ⁓ is BARK, B-A-R-K. And they sell their own phone. They have their own built-in program that will block things. And another thing that I think they do great, which there are other companies like this, they also sell a little box that plugs into your Wi-Fi router.

Matt Darrah (44:56)

Mm-mm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (45:09)

And so

now you can network all of your devices within your home. And it's a whole lot better than nothing, right? But it's still not perfect. mean, some of these kids are pretty good at getting around their parental controls. So it starts with, I mean, at the very least, think parents out there, you can't shore up every possible thing.

Matt Darrah (45:15)

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (45:36)

So I think it requires a multi-layered approach. If they're going to get access to my children, I'm for damn sure not going to make it easy on them. So ⁓ I need to set up as many roadblocks as possible. So that includes screen time where physically the children can get onto their devices. ⁓ They should be in a public, not public, but open area within the. ⁓

Matt Darrah (45:39)

Mm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Hang on.

Battery died. One second. me swap the battery.

Julian (46:06)

No worries.

Okay.

So like I was saying, ⁓ yeah, so it requires a multilayered kind of approach to this, right? So in the digital side of things, like I'm not going to make it easy for them to access my children. So that's where you can use programs like BARK and parental controls, ⁓ Norton anti-virus. ⁓ There's a bunch out there. And a really good place if parents are feeling very overwhelmed by that is a

Matt Darrah (46:14)

Okay, so yeah, go ahead.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (46:44)

I want to give them this. It's a YouTube channel. And again, no affiliation with them, but it's Family Tech. ⁓ this woman, she's a mother. ⁓ by profession, she's like an engineer or something like that. She does all these big networks for corporations. And she saw a need for this. So she puts out videos and just step by step, walking parents through how to set up all these parental controls.

Matt Darrah (47:03)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That's good.

Julian (47:14)

So

you can do all these layers to your network to set up these defenses. ⁓ And then comes in the spiritual side of things, right? So I think that a family should be plugged into community, plugged into church, because individuals around you are going to identify problems ⁓ before you do. Because you see your kids every single day, and as parents, we want to see and hope the best from them,

Matt Darrah (47:24)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (47:43)

And also children are going to open up to other individuals in ways that they're just not going open up to their parents. the parents should have a community wrapped around those children, wrapped around themselves, and for many, many reasons, but that being one of them. ⁓ As well as the spiritual side of things of just having an ethical moral compass. There's so many children that don't have that anymore, you know? So right from wrong, and if there is wrong,

Matt Darrah (47:49)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (48:12)

Do we have a relationship that you can come to me and you can talk to me? Or at least can you go talk to somebody, right? Then on the emotional side of things, another defense layer there is openly discussing with your children, obviously age appropriate, but some of the things that they can expect to go through in puberty, some of the struggles that they're going to encounter with ⁓ easy access to pornography and what that does to you, you know?

Matt Darrah (48:32)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Julian (48:41)

Like if you start throwing out the actual statistics of pornography out there to some of these young men, I bet they'd think twice about it, right? So ⁓ erectile dysfunction doesn't sound real fun at 25 years old, know, things like that. ⁓ So parents need to educate themselves so that they can educate their children. ⁓ But there should be a multi...

Matt Darrah (48:48)

Yeah.

You

Julian (49:07)

Faceted approach to this where you're trying to address each of those levels because each of those levels becomes a vulnerability the maturity side of things on the emotional part as well includes discussions of shame and guilt because Ultimately in a world that we are plugged in 24-7 and there are cameras everywhere there's going to be a time and place where you are embarrassed and something is out there on social media and ⁓

Matt Darrah (49:27)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (49:36)

Children need to know how these kind of like wildfires just blaze on social media, but they die down. It might be really embarrassing for three days, maybe even three weeks, but it's going to be OK. It does not require a drastic life altering ⁓ response to that. So that's what I would tell parents is just to really sit down with your spouse, sit down with everyone that

Matt Darrah (49:42)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (50:05)

has a vested interest or time and access to your children and just start layering those defenses. Some of them are physical, some of them are emotional, some of them are spiritual. And if you leave any one of those ⁓ out, it becomes a potential place for groomers to kind of set a hook in and start chipping away.

Matt Darrah (50:11)

Mm-hmm.

Ultimately, ⁓ and this is kind of a theme for the conversations I've been having here lately, but it's community. The whole reason that we talk about on this, all things foster a place for coffee connection and community because we do better in community. And like you said, being part of a regular group consistently helps

identify when there's issues. ⁓

Julian (50:59)

Yeah.

Yeah, and at the end of the day,

mean, my responsibility as a parent is to be your parent, not your friend, not your buddy.

Matt Darrah (51:07)

Yeah, yep. Yeah, yeah.

We have a thing at the house, and I can't remember exactly what it says, but I'm your parent, and it's not my job to be your friend, but I'm gonna come after you when you're gone and you've lost and all the things. It's really kind of humorous, but also kind of accurate. You can't parent your kids like your friend. mean, you have a role.

a responsibility to your children to raise them up in the way of the Lord, right? And lead God and direct them into, you know, a relationship with God, into safety and security and ⁓ things like that. we talked about the conversations you should be having. And you talked about the resources, so remind me again, it was Nick Mick.

Julian (51:54)

Absolutely.

Yes, NCMEC, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, they have a national hotline, tip line, that is primarily for ⁓ the minorities and things like that. I mean, if you reach out, they'll direct you where you need help. And there's other national tip lines, like the Blue Campaign for Homeland Security is another place that people can go to for resources and for making reports, ⁓ as well as just

Matt Darrah (52:19)

Mm-hmm.

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Julian (52:34)

calling up Mission 991, you know, it's what I do. So I can help direct people where they need for additional resources as well.

Matt Darrah (52:43)

And then you said, Protect Young Eyes is another one. And then the YouTube channel Family Tech. And I'm going to put links to all these down in the description below. ⁓ And we'll get to them being able to contact you here in a little bit. are there things that schools, churches, and communities can do to watch out for signs? Are there signs that...

Julian (52:45)

Mm-hmm.

Matt Darrah (53:12)

that they could be looking for to say, that's a potential, that child is acting out in a way that could show that they're being trafficked.

Julian (53:24)

Yeah, there are some kind of well-known indicators. And the problems with these is that people assume that that's ⁓ an end-all be-all, but it's really not. It takes so many different forms and ways that people are being exploited. ⁓ So I just want people to be very open-minded.

Matt Darrah (53:38)

Mm-mm.

Julian (53:51)

So some of the better known ones are tattoos. So if you start seeing a bunch of kids or women all with the exact same tattoo, you know, it's not an immediate indicator. None of these are that they're being trafficked, but ⁓ that in conjunction with substance abuse and behavioral issues and other things like that could be an indicator. the the part of it is societal. So when we glamorize, you know, certain behaviors like, hey, what's up pimp?

Matt Darrah (53:59)

Mm.

Julian (54:21)

What's up, ho? We just use these words and just throw them around. If you really knew what those people were like in real life, that's not something to be proud of. ⁓ So tattoos, markings, ⁓ branding of any kind, if you see an individual who historically or you know that person has struggled financially and all of a sudden they got brand new shoes, they got brand new purse, brand new, you know,

Matt Darrah (54:22)

Mm-hmm.

Right.

No.

Julian (54:50)

makeup and jewelry, well, it's coming from somewhere, right? And so changes in behavior, declining grades, ⁓ substance abuse, ⁓ physical markings, bruises, things like that, are all indications that I would hope somebody would just step in and have a conversation with somebody, right? And it's really, really important that people understand that it's everywhere. There is no, there's no stereotypical

Matt Darrah (55:09)

Mm, no.

Julian (55:20)

There's no stereotypical trafficker or victim. ⁓ I don't remember her name, but a really well-known case of this, because she speaks openly about it, is ⁓ there's a story of this young woman who moved around because of her father's corporate job. They found themselves in, I believe it was Detroit or Ann Arbor up in Michigan, and Catholic family, very well-dressed.

They had money. They had all the things. But again, going back to some of those reasons people fall into this, she really just wanted to fit in. And so there was a cute boy, and she wanted his approval, right? And so in middle school, straight A student, she decides to catch a ride home. ⁓ Maybe it was like ninth grade, 10th grade. And ⁓ he's going to give a ride home. Well,

Just quick stop, quick stop. I'm going to stop by the house. And so, hey, do you want a drink? She comes in because she's seeking that approval. And ⁓ then that turns into a relationship. Well, that turns into getting out a camcorder where ⁓ now he's got video of her, right? And he starts holding that over her head. Well, that turns into favors for friends. So now she's being raped by multiple individuals.

Matt Darrah (56:20)

Hmm.

Mm.

Hmm.

Mm.

Julian (56:41)

And then that turns into her sneaking out at night at two o'clock in the morning without her parents knowing because she got a phone call that if you don't get here in 15 minutes, we're going to release these videos. And that turns into years of trauma and abuse and, and exploitation in high school, right under the parents noses. Her grades are dropping and nobody knows why they think she's just stressed. She can't sleep. And ultimately it, it becomes kind of a sliding.

Matt Darrah (56:51)

Peace.

Wow. Yeah.

Julian (57:10)

scale where now this individual will start seeking out ⁓ substances and become addicted to drugs and alcohol just to escape. ⁓ So it takes various forms and somebody just stepping in and breaking that cycle. In aviation, we talk about the Swiss cheese model for accidents. So when you have an accident that

Matt Darrah (57:20)

Hope, ⁓

Mm.

Julian (57:38)

requires the FAA to step in, they start looking at all the things that led up to that event, right? And so everything had to, like the Swiss cheese model, you got these Swiss cheese slices and all these holes and they all have to align perfectly for this event to happen. And so they ask, which one of these can we shift to prevent this from ever happening again? And I think that's the important thing for parents, for...

Matt Darrah (57:44)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Julian (58:03)

⁓ teachers, for even young people listening to this and you have friends around you that are struggling is you can be that shift. You can disrupt that ⁓ timeline, yeah, that pattern of abuse and that's ultimately what we're trying to accomplish.

Matt Darrah (58:15)

pattern. ⁓ Yeah.

Wow. ⁓ Gosh, that is, I mean this is some heavy heavy stuff. what.

What gives you hope? I know you said this is that one more kid, mean that one more person that's being trafficked. Because this has got to be heavy work to do day in and day out.

Julian (58:31)

Uh-uh.

Yeah, you know, the to me, it always goes back to that the answer is simple, but not easy. And the simple answer is we just keep swinging. Right. Because the the only thing it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. And I have to be realistic. I am one of millions over the last thousands of years that have been fighting this since the days of Cain and Abel.

Matt Darrah (58:50)

Mm.

Yeah.

Julian (59:13)

You know, since the introduction of the fall where we, so I'm not naive that in my lifetime I'm going to see just an end of evil or an end of exploitation, but I'm not going to sit back and do nothing. So some of the best advocates and biggest fighters in this, in this space are victims. So if I can leave a legacy of pulling people up out of.

Matt Darrah (59:37)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (59:42)

the exploitation that's occurring, that they're being held over with labor and sexual exploitation, then that individual can go out and help other people as well, take their story out there or use their resources to improve their community. And if I can do that a thousand times before I'm gone, then I can multiply that effect, right? So it's really that legacy of just, you know, ⁓ being too stupid to quit.

Matt Darrah (1:00:04)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Julian (1:00:14)

I think, too, it's just keeping the perspective. With Mission 991, there's a lot of organizations out there that really market and push that emotional connection in order to drive up funding. And we're just not that. ⁓ I could use a lot of help with resources, yes, but also just

Matt Darrah (1:00:29)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:00:35)

⁓ People that want to get involved that don't know how, because they look at this and they're like, well, you know, used to be a federal agent. You used to be in the military. Obviously, you can go fight this thing. Well, so can you if you're working at Best Buy. So can you if you're, you know, a teacher or an engineer or whatever, a lawyer. It takes all types to get involved. so, you know, Mission and other organizations like Kibode International and all these

Matt Darrah (1:00:39)

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:01:05)

these guys that are out there doing great work, we still need people to help out with social media. We still need people to answer emails, set up ⁓ meetings and ⁓ digital production and writing reports, all of it. It's an organization. ⁓ So if people want to volunteer, they can get involved with Mission 991 as well. And if not, then resources help as well. If you're like, I can't go out and find people on the dark web.

Matt Darrah (1:01:19)

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:01:35)

Okay, but I know somebody that can. They're trained and they have the experience too, but they have a family of their own as well. So if I can pay them the salary required for them to go and chase these children digitally for eight hours or 10 hours, then we can employ that individual with that skill set. And that requires resources. So I always tell people, do what you do and do it to the best of your ability. If you are a baker, then

Matt Darrah (1:01:37)

Mm.

Yeah. Right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:02:04)

Be the best baker you can for your community. Be the best ⁓ car salesman, whatever it is. But if you have that calling and that urge to be generous, then obviously all those resources assist in finding these individuals. And I try to be careful using the term rescue. So we enable rescues and arrests. We partner with multiple agencies and organizations, training and intelligence gathering to assist them to go out there and

rescue these individuals and facilitate these arrests. We're not out there kicking in doors, okay? But even though we want to sometimes. That rescue though looks very different depending on what we're talking about. A lot of times it requires seven touches is kind of the space what people talk about because most victims won't see themselves as victims.

Matt Darrah (1:02:35)

⁓ Right. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:03:01)

it'll take one, two, five, seven times interacting with that person before they'll actually want help and identify as like, well, maybe I can't do this on my own. ⁓ And I don't know when I meet them if I'm the first, the third, or the seventh, right? ⁓ It's just disrupting that pattern of abuse and disrupting that exploitation. And so for a rescue, say in the country of Honduras.

Matt Darrah (1:03:09)

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:03:30)

The legal age of consent there is 14. ⁓ Sex work is legal. if we identify a 15-year-old that's involved in sex work, if she doesn't identify as a victim, then we can't help her, right? So a rescue to me is being able to sit the person down in front of me. And perhaps it's the first and only time in their life that they actually have a choice.

Matt Darrah (1:03:33)

Mm.

Yeah.

Julian (1:03:59)

I want to be able to give them that choice. can't control their choice though. So it's just disrupting that pattern of abuse and giving them a little bit of space to breathe and the resources necessary to take back control of their life should they choose.

Matt Darrah (1:04:13)

Wow. So how do they find you?

Julian (1:04:16)

So you can learn more at mission991, mission991.org. We also have Facebook up and people can email me directly at Julian Diaz, J-U-L-I-A-N-D-I-A-Z, at mission991.org.

Matt Darrah (1:04:36)

Okay. Okay. Well, man, thank you. What is one thing, kind of an in thought, that you want everybody that listens to take away from this today?

Julian (1:04:43)

.

I just want them to know that it's a very, very real problem and that you're not as passive as you think you are. The majority of people listening to this have, at one point in time, inactively participated in pornography. And, you know, so have I. I've worked through some stuff in my maturing as a man, as a father, and you have to know that it's not a victimless.

Matt Darrah (1:05:08)

Yeah.

Julian (1:05:17)

event, right? Like there's somebody on the other end of that screen. When you go to a strip club, when you participate in some of these, ⁓ you know, industries, there are people's lives being pulled into that. But the same is true when you go shopping at Walmart, when you go shopping at Target. We vote with our dollars. And I really want people to understand that you have control more so than you think. And so

Matt Darrah (1:05:17)

Right.

Mm.

Mm-hmm.

Julian (1:05:47)

We're not going to change the course of humanity by shopping at this place or buying this thing or the other, but there does come a responsibility and an accountability with the way we conduct ourselves in our day-to-day life. And what I tell people is, if I run a sheet metal company and I profit $200,000 a year, it's a pretty decent sized little company.

⁓ You're probably purchasing over a million dollars of raw material out of China every single year, right? So with that million dollars, that's power, that's accountability. Have you ever said, you know what, I'm gonna come visit the location that I draw my raw materials from, right? I'm giving you over a million dollars per year. So yeah, I'm just gonna show up next month and take a look around. If they're not willing to open their door for you,

Matt Darrah (1:06:18)

Mm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Right.

Julian (1:06:42)

You probably don't need to be doing business with them.

And the more accountability and ethical business management that we start doing, and for the young people listening out there, you're going to be these business owners. ⁓ For the other people listening, we vote with every dollar because ultimately that is what drives this whole industry.

Matt Darrah (1:07:02)

Yeah. Wow. Well, man, thanks so much, ⁓ Julian, for coming on today. Be sure to like, subscribe, and ⁓ hit that notification button, share the episode with others. ⁓ Guys, thanks for tuning in. Thanks to Julian for coming on. Make sure that you're watching, that you're limiting screen time and using some of the apps and things that Julian...

talked about and next week we will have, I'm not sure who's gonna be on next week so we're gonna, damn it. Are you kidding me?

Julian (1:07:43)

That's all right, it's got the audio. You can just leave my mug on there.

Matt Darrah (1:07:45)

Yeah, it's good enough. All right, well

thanks for coming on, man.

Julian (1:07:50)

Yeah, no problem. ⁓ let me know if you need anything. We'll stay in touch. Bye.

Matt Darrah (1:07:53)

I will. I'll catch you later. ⁓ huh.

Bye.