'These people are sick': Call to Freedom marshals support for human trafficking fight

Community group has seen fast growth amid rise in trafficking victims

Becky Rasmussen, executive director of Call to Freedom, addresses attendees at the group’s annual breakfast Oct. 12, 2022, at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. (Jonathan Ellis/The Dakota Scout)

Matt Koziara recalled sitting in a parking lot watching a video with his wife. The video was of a Haitian man searching for his child who had been abducted by human traffickers.

“I could not stop crying after watching that video,” he said, wondering how that could happen in this world.

Koziara spoke to about 1,200 people Wednesday morning in Sioux Falls who attended the Seventh Annual CommUnity Breakfast, a fundraiser for Call to Freedom, which helps women, children and men escape human trafficking.

Prior to Koziara taking the stage, videos had been played of trafficking survivors, including a 16-year-old girl who had been coerced into sex by a man who groomed her after she placed a Facebook ad looking for work to clean houses.

“It is sick. These people are sick. It is evil. We cannot let this go on,” Koziara said. He noted that trafficking had grown from a $32 billion black market in 2013 to $150 billion now.