Deputies raided an Iowa church and eliminated 88 youngsters collaborating in a Bible research camp as a part of a sweeping human trafficking investigation, police stated Monday.
The kids at the moment are in protecting custody of native companies after they have been taken from the Shekinah Glory Camp run by Kingdom Ministry of Rehab and Recreation, in accordance with police and native experiences.
Deputies executing search warrants eliminated the youngsters over the weekend and took them to close by Wapello Methodist Church to fulfill with youngster safety staff, deputies advised KWQC.
The Iowa Division of Well being and Human Providers positioned the youngsters in momentary foster care till they might be reunited with their dad and mom or guardians, deputies added.
The Kingdom Ministry of Rehabilitation and Recreation, based in 2018, was internet hosting the summer time camp from June 8-29.
The household behind the ministry that runs the camp in Columbus Junction denied the allegations, in accordance with WQAD8.
“What we attempt to do is, we handle adults and kids who’re underneath the affect of medication, alcohol, nicotine,” Victor Bawi, whose dad and mom run the ministry, advised the outlet.
“The adults and kids, we handle them, we offer meals for them. The youngsters we separate from the adults. We separate the girls and boys. We look after them, we offer for them.”
Bawi advised KWQC {that a} teen from Texas referred to as authorities as a result of he didn’t need to attend the camp.
Bawi stated no youngsters have been ever in peril or harmed.
“We by no means harmed that youngster. We cherished him,” he stated. We purchased him like $400 footwear, clothes, every thing.”
Christian youngsters from throughout the nation attend the camp, he added.
Bawi advised WQAD8 that when the youngsters aren’t learning the Bible, they’ve enjoyable taking part in volleyball, soccer and different out of doors actions.
Deputies executed search warrants at a number of places — one the place the camp was going down in Columbus Junction, and one other lower than two miles away in Fredonia, the place the church helps folks discover housing.
The Louisa County Sheriff’s Workplace stated the operation came about in coordination with the Iowa Division of Well being and Human Providers, Iowa Division of Felony Investigation and Columbus Junction Police Division, in accordance with WQAD8. The investigation stays ongoing.
The church is run by two pastors from Burma. They’re members of the Chin, an ethnic minority, in accordance with an Iowa cultural group. Iowa has resettled 1000’s of refugees fleeing the longest-running civil struggle on the planet.
Iowa has one of many largest Burmese populations within the Midwest, and Columbus Junction had a major quantity within the space. Most of the refugees are poor and work within the Tyson’s Meals Inc. meat packing plant, the place the corporate has translators on premises. The plant is accountable for 2% of the hogs slaughtered every year within the nation.
Burma, also called Myanmar, is likely one of the international locations added to the controversial checklist of nations banned for entry to the US by the State Division on June 16.
