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There’s no question that human trafficking of the most vulnerable among us remains a prevalent threat to communities across this country, with over 3,000 potential child victims reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2021 alone. Even with such staggering evidence, we know many cases of child labor or sex abuse go unreported, leaving kids of all ages at risk of constant harm. Lawmakers must act quickly to ensure our Nation meets its lofty goals of ensuring liberty and freedom for our next generation. Thankfully, CPAC’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking is not alone in this fight as government leaders step up to protect our most important asset: our young people. Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlined critical recommendations for combating human trafficking, particularly of children under 18. These included improved collaboration between the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and the Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) and the establishment of clear goals to assist the specific needs of child trafficking victims. Despite these clear objectives, the current administration has failed to act. President Biden's policy of lax border enforcement creates opportunities for traffickers to exploit vulnerable individuals, including children on both sides of the border. At the same time, Federal agencies continue to come up short in supporting their State and local partners who encounter and often rescue these at-risk children. This is why CPAC was proud to join Senator Grassley in advancing new legislation that would mandate the Federal government prioritize protecting our country’s young men and women. The "Preventing Child Trafficking Act of 2024" is a straightforward proposal that requires the executive branch to implement the recommendations from the GAO report in the immediate future. Through prioritizing funding for victims’ services, placing more time and attention on the needs of at-risk youth, and ensuring that Federal agencies are coordinating with those working on the ground, this transformative legislation takes significant steps in protecting our most vulnerable. Now is the time for our government to take the lead in ending child trafficking, and CPAC’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking stands ready to make real change in the fight to end modern day slavery.

Katie Pavlich and Florida Congresswoman Kat Cammack sit down for a discussion of government overreach at CPAC 2024. For a year now, Cammack has belonged to the Subcommittee for the Weaponization of the Federal Government in the House of Representatives. In this capacity, she’s learned the depth and extent of the weaponization of the federal government against the American people. In particular, the federal government’s collusion with big tech to harness the technology of AI to censor Americans and promote DEI has recently come to light. In fact, taxpayer funds have been funneled to academia for the purpose of manipulating AI to advance Leftist ideology. The Subcommittee for the Weaponization of the Federal Government is tasked with uncovering and cracking down on these sketchy partnerships. Their latest effort to do so is a fencing bill. “If we can’t cut their money, we’re going to fence it. And people are like, ‘Well, what would that do?’ Well, you start in different departments and you hold their money hostage. Two can play this game, and I am so sick and tired, and I know you guys are too, of sitting on the sidelines and watching these people run roughshod over our rights with our money,” explained Cammack. Cammack and her Republican colleagues are shouldering the burden of fighting the weaponization of government as their Democrat counterparts continue to deny its reality and focus on destroying Donald Trump. Watch Cammack’s full conversation with Katie Pavlich on Rumble @CPAC.

The Left accuses Republicans of protecting the rich and punishing the middle-class, but under Biden, we’ve seen the opposite to be true. Thanks to Biden's economic policies, the rich have only gotten richer and the poor have only gotten poorer. Bill Walton and Matt Schlapp discuss Biden’s economic policies that caused this on America Uncanceled. President Biden brags that he’s created jobs but the jobs he claims to have created are filled not by American citizens in need of work but by the illegal immigrants Biden is welcoming across the border. In fact, the state of Maine has gone so far as to introduce an Office of New Arrivals. “What they’re doing is they’re taking illegal aliens or undocumented workers or whatever the label is for people now and they’re giving them all the training and all the documents they need to find work in the economy whereas regular Americans who have been here all along are not afforded that same treatment,” explained Walton. DEI has also impacted the job market with corporations and the government now placing identity above merit and ability, making it more difficult for more people to get jobs and decreasing the quality of workers and work performed. “From day one the Biden administration, not just Joe Biden but everybody, all his cabinet secretaries, have not been aimed at economic growth and have not been aimed at the well-being of the middle class. Their agenda and the whole of government, every single agency, has been aimed at climate change agenda and the equity agenda, Diversity Equity and Inclusion,” Walton commented. Get Walton’s full take on the state of the economy and watch the full episode on CPAC+. For more, follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.

President Biden continues to flip flop in his stance on Israel, publicly pronouncing support for them but not following through with his actions. Julie Strauss Levin joined Mercedes Schlapp on America Uncanceled to share her thoughts and an update on the Israel/Hamas War. “Joe Biden does not like Israel. Joe Biden is not a friend of the Jewish people,” stated Levin plainly. Though he says he supports Israel, he refuses to supply them the full military aid they need. He recently stated in an interview with CNN that if Israel entered Rafah, he would withhold crucial military aid. His Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is also no friend of Israel, calling for a ceasefire early on in October. Biden’s weak leadership and poor support of one of America’s closest allies, is standing out right now as the war spills over into American college campuses in the form of violent, antisemitic demonstrations. As such, the war is spreading beyond Israel and is becoming a war over Western civilization at large. “This is more than just about the Jewish people. As I said before, I really believe this is about Western civilization, and without Christians, we couldn’t do this. We are truly in this together,” said Levin. Watch Levin’s full take on CPAC+ For more, follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke for the third time at CPAC Hungary this year. Central to his message this year was Hungary’s clinging to conservative principles amidst barrages of globalism from the European Union and neighboring countries in Europe. “While the entirety of Europe has been flooded with a progressive, liberal ocean, here, as a miracle, you can find a conservative island,” Orbán said. The migrant crisis was a turning point in Hungary’s relationship with the European Union. They were bullied and pressured by Brussels for their commitment to defending their borders. While other European countries caved in and opened their borders to unvetted, dangerous migrants and burdened their cities and taxpayers, Hungary stood firm to the chagrin of their globalist neighbors. They found support in their decision to assert their sovereignty from few other countries, but Australia was one of those few. Orbán gave a shoutout in his speech to former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott for setting the standard on migration. “He is our hero. He’s been our hero because he said that migration had to be stopped and he was the one who actually did stop it. He was the one who sent us the message if you come illegally on our borders, you may not enter, you must not enter, and he showcased that this could be done,” praised Orbán. Abbot was joined by other friends of Hungary including former Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, former Prime Minister of Slovenia Janez Janša, and Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze. Together they are few of the European leaders willing to take on the globalist bureaucrats in the European Union. Orbán issued a call to action to the rest of the world to join them, “This year is not about the theory. This is about practice.” Watch the full speech here.

President Trump is holding a solid lead over President Biden in polls, and left-wing journalists are losing their minds over the gap. White House Correspondent for Today News Africa Simon Ateba reacts on America Uncanceled. Support is on the rise for President Trump. Supporters gather hours before rallies with the former president and more polls show President Trump closing the gap among Hispanic and black voters. “People look back to the past and they see the economy. They see their pocket. They see crime, and they see stability. They’re like, ‘No, we need to go back to Trump,’” said Ateba. Ateba also attributes the swell of support to the witch hunt trials against President Trump. “People ask,’Why is President Trump the first president in more than 200 years to be tried?’ And actually a lawyer for the government argued in court that [it’s] because the former president didn’t commit any crime,” Ateba explained. The takeaway is that the Left’s witch hunt of President Trump is backfiring and only adding momentum to the former president’s campaign for a second term. For more, follow @CPAC on social media. You can also follow Matt Schlapp @MSchlapp or Mercedes Schlapp @MercedesSchlapp to keep up with current events.

Pat Nolan, director emeritus of the CPAC Foundation Nolan Center for Justice, recently highlighted the Bureau of Prisons controversial move to close FCI Dublin without removing the bad actors that enabled years of misconduct by predatory employees jeopardizing safety both within the walls and outside. “It is clear the Bureau of Prisons works hard to prevent outsiders from seeing what happens inside their prisons. So, rather than deal directly with the despicable staff at Dublin, the BOP decided to sidestep the problem by closing the prison” says Pat. Until now the BOP has been able grade its own papers. The Federal Prison Oversight Act (H.R. 3019)—which recently passed the U.S. House Oversight Committee overwhelmingly—would ensure safety and security are prioritized for those living and working inside the walls. Read Nolan's article at The Hill.

Saturday marked the one-year anniversary since the US House passed H.R. 2 – the strongest border security bill in US history. But Senate Democrats refuse to sign the bill and Biden won’t get behind it. Biden’s Border Crisis is bursting wide open, just weeks after my first visit to the US border. Where are the Democrats? Not a SINGLE one showed up to a special field hearing in Arizona this week. Bombshells are dropping. Does anyone hear? Does anyone care? And WHERE are the 85,000+++ MISSING CHILDREN who came across the border? Every American should witness firsthand, as I did, the parade of illegal immigrants flooding across the southern border of the United States. It will shake you to your core. When you see it with your eyes and feel it in your bones you know the truth: America is changing forever. The real shockwaves are just starting to hit. Border patrol agents are now testifying that the Biden regime has forced them into silence. Speak out, and lose your job. Speak against the criminals pouring in, the women and children being trafficked and the drug cartels gaining ground—and you can just retire early. With no pension. I heard similar stories… For this particular story, I am traveling on what seems to be an unbelievable journey to the Arizona/US border with Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, their CPAC team and members of Kari Lake’s US Senate campaign. On a bright and sunny day, we arrive in Nogales, Arizona. Escorted by friendly and knowledgeable ex-border patrol agents, we head down dirt roads and dodge potholes until suddenly, we turn a sharp corner. Trump’s big Border Wall rises from the earth to meet us. We have arrived. The wall is breathtaking. Comforting. Foreboding. Much taller and more secure than the adjacent Obama wall, which is easy to scale. A joke. We travel alongside Trump’s impressive barrier, stretching for miles in the middle of nowhere.  All is calm. For a few moments. “There they are!” our guide suddenly announces right on cue, and we pull over. About 50 yards away, dozens of migrants are pouring through a massive breach in the barrier, where Biden left the Border Wall unfinished. Young, well-dressed fighting age men and women with children and cell phones confidently and assertively stroll into America. They smile and wave to our cameras. They tell us they’re going to see relatives and friends and coming to find jobs. This group is traveling from Guatemala and Central America. One place they are NOT going— to the LEGAL port of entry up the road. No, that is NOT required under Biden’s America. No background checks, no DNA tests, no special investigations to uncover potential human trafficking cases—those procedures under the Trump administration were REVERSED as soon as Biden took office. The border patrol agents are directed to give the illegals a special bag of supplies and usher them to their next destination. We know they receive everything from money to cell phones to mopeds, hotel rooms and airline tickets. All free—funded by US taxpayers. They can apply for asylum and if rejected, they are to be deported. But they are not. Most board charter buses and head to nearby migrant camps that stretch for blocks by the Tucson airport. See it for yourself. Then you notice: the migrant camps are heavily guarded by barbed wire fencing AND security— but the border is NOT? Certainly, Biden’s America is NOT America First. Around the corner, parents tell me they are afraid of strangers lingering around local parks at their children’s soccer games. They notice nearby hotels are packed with migrants. They testify how they have lost children, multiple children, to fentanyl and drug overdoses as poison pours across the border and crime soars. And now, reports say that Biden officials have ceded authority of a New Mexico mountaintop to a Mexican drug cartel. Are we really living in America? The worst shockwave hit as I arrived at the airport to head home. Illegals entered through an expedited security line next to me, carried special papers, then sat at my gate and boarded my plane. I held my breath. I know Biden is now welcoming Gaza refugees, who have voted in favor of Hamas terrorists. The war on our border, against our communities, our children and US taxpayers is nothing short of a full scale invasion of our country. The Biden regime and Congress are complicit and have blood on their hands. They refuse to shut down the border. They are aiding and abetting our enemies.  This is treason.

Since starting at CPAC, I have greatly enjoyed my time here and have learned a lot. My role has given me numerous opportunities to educate myself about policy matters of great import to all sorts of industries and fields. I have been able to keenly develop my ability to comprehend legislation and the workings of legislatures at both the state and the national level. At the same time, my knowledge of critical business tools has profoundly grown. My experiences here have helped me learn about how to manage large sets of data on Excel and in Canva. The folks that work at CPAC are also very nice and are invested in the success of their co-workers and the organization. I’ve found the general work environment to be inviting and of a good, productive humor. CPAC also offers its employees many leadership opportunities, a privilege that has helped me grow as I have navigated through life after college. I would strongly recommend that folks apply for a position here. If you're looking for valuable professional experience in a friendly environment, visit CPAC.org/careers to apply for a position at CPAC today.

President Donald Trump is bearing the brunt of the Left’s lawfare and putting the full extent of it on public display. Mike Davis of the Article III Project, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, North Carolina Congressman Dan Bishop, and Stephen Miller America of First Legal sat down at a CPAC in DC 2024 panel to discuss strategies to combat such lawfare. The panel of legal experts suggests conservatives start by electing good attorneys general on the state level. As Miller commented, “The only way out of this nightmare is going to be filling every legal office in this country with Dan Bishops and Ken Paxtons.” From there, attorneys general can follow the lead of Ken Paxton and Dan Bishop and reign in big tech’s monopolies and censorship and establish additional safeguards to protect Americans’ constitutional rights and the integrity of the justice system. Paxton, who was subjected to lawfare by members of his own party, issues the warning that while conservatives are fighting lawfare, they need to be on guard for attacks from all sides, “We need to be very aware that it’s not just the liberal Democrats that are doing this but some in our own party and we need to hold them accountable.” The Left’s lawfare is spreading deep roots across the nation, and conservatives need to create a network of legal officials with integrity to match. “We’ve got to lean. We’ve also got to use every tool at our disposal to fight them back,” urged Bishop. Watch the full conversation between these patriotic legal warriors on Rumble @CPAC.

Coleton Furlow covers antisemitic protests on college campuses, the Met Gala, and more on the second episode of Battle Belongs. Furlow‘s updates on antisemitic protests on college campuses include the resignation of Cornell University’s president and the revelation that most of the Columbia University protests were not even students but were hired professional protestors. Representative Andy Ogles has proposed a solution to these protests with a bill that punishes protestors by sending them to Gaza for six months for community service. Ogles’ proposal is more proactive against terrorism than President Joe Biden who though has publicly appeared to support Israel has not given them full material and military support they need to end the war and end Hamas. Furlow commented, “We are America...We do not support terrorists. We do not stand with terrorists. In fact, we stand on terrorists’ necks. That’s what we do. We annihilate terrorism. Terrorism has no place in America. Terrorism has no place in the world. So, why is Joe Biden siding with terrorists? I want an answer.” Furlow also commented in the episode on a viral video of a couple renting the womb of woman and then ripping the distressed newborn baby from the arms of its mother, the Met Gala or what he calls, “the worst costume party of all time,” and on hate mail from commenters on social media. Watch the full episode on CPAC+ and follow @CPAC or @coletonfurlow on social media for more.

April was Second Chance Month, a month dedicated to celebrating and advancing criminal justice reform programs, and CPAC Foundation’s Nolan Center for Justice closed out the month with a fireside chat and by participating in Clean Slate Initiative’s Clean Slate Act Champions Roundtable. Nolan Center for Justice joined criminal justice reform advocates, Representatives Kelly Armstrong and Lisa Blunt Rochester, and more at the Clean Slate Act Champions Roundtable to celebrate the progress of the Clean Slate Act. The Clean Slate Act is a bipartisan effort to seal the criminal records of non-violent offenders, making it easier for them to find gainful employment and rebuild their lives as productive citizens. As Armstrong summarized, “The Clean Slate Act is bipartisan legislation that aims to remove barriers to give Americans with low-level and nonviolent criminal records a second chance to find meaningful employment.” The act was first introduced in Congress in 2021 by Rochester and was introduced again in April of 2023. The bill has since gained two cosponsors from both the Democrat and Republican sides and has spread across the country on the state level to twelve different states. Nolan Center for Justice continued the discussion about second chance policies by hosting a fireside chat with Re-entry Working Group, Prison Fellowship Advocacy, and Safer Foundation. Together they celebrated a successful Second Chance Month and talked re-entry policies that will support offenders’ successful transition back into society. Nolan Center General Counsel David Safavian said of the event on X: “Had the opportunity to discuss the importance of supervision reform, rehabilitation and re-entry with a room full of Capitol Hill staffers. Why are these things important? Because if we can keep ex-offenders from re-offending, we make every neighborhood safer.” Learn more about Nolan Center for Justice’s Second Chance Month initiatives and all of their projects at conservativejusticereform.org and on X @ACUforJustice.