Idaho resident Aaron Hutchings arrived at a Pakistani brick factory in January. The devout Christian told Fox News Digital that he was shocked to see children turning bricks under the hot sun to work off the debts that their families had incurred, sometimes over the course of generations.

Within hours of his arrival, Hutchings paid off the debts for two enslaved Christian families and escorted them to freedom, breaking the «curse that they’ve had for hundreds of years.»

There are up to one million Christians working in slave and bonded labor in Pakistan, according to Emma Hall, a persecution researcher working with charity Open Doors U.K. and Ireland, told Fox News Digital. This could comprise as much as 30% of Pakistani Christians, counted at 3.3 million in the 2023 census and accounting for 1.37 percent of the population.

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Hall noted that «extreme poverty drives desperate families to accept advance loans (peshgri) for emergency and basic needs, trapping them in cycles of debt bondage where repayment systems are structured in ways that make exit extremely difficult.»

Emmanuel Hernandez said he was shocked when he first heard that Christians in Pakistan were living in debt-based enslavement in Pakistan’s brick-making industry. After traveling to Pakistan to meet the woman who would later become his wife, Hernandez witnessed bonded laborers at a brick factory for the first time.

«Never in my life have I seen such hopelessness,» he told Fox News Digital. «At that moment, I committed myself to rescuing one family a year for the rest of my life.»

In January 2025, Hernandez started the nonprofit Project Jubilee. He says that it is «by the grace of God» that people have already donated enough through the nonprofit to save 300 Pakistanis from slavery.

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Born into bonded labor in Pakistan, children must flip bricks in the hot sun outside of Lahore, Pakistan.  (Courtesy: Aaron Hutchings. )

Though Project Jubilee will save any bonded slave, regardless of race or faith, Hernandez said that «98% of the people we rescue are Christians, and that’s because they’re second-class citizens» in their country.

The average cost to help one family is about $8,500, Hernandez said, because Project Jubilee recognizes that slaves needed more than debt relief to escape the cycle of bonded labor.

«Our goal is for them to succeed in life and make sure that they never go back,» he explained. To accomplish this, Hernandez and his team pay lawyers to take care of all applicable paperwork, and help each family with two months of rent and food. They also get families in touch with a local minister, pay for children to attend school and purchase every family a tuk tuk, a motorcycle taxi, which they can use to create income.

He said that in most cases, factory owners are grudgingly accepting of letting slaves go after their debts are paid off. But in some cases, he says owners have put a cap on the number of families Hernandez’s group can free in a month, or told them that they’re «never allowed to come back again.»

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A family of brickmakers speak with American Christian Aaron Hutchings before learning they will be freed from their debt.  (Courtesy: Aaron Hutchings.)

Hutchings found Hernandez’s online profile in late 2025 and messaged him, asking to be part of his effort. Retired from the IT world, Hutchings said he is «just a normal guy who wanted to do something…to help people.»

After a short conversation over the phone, Hernandez invited Hutchings to come along to a trip to Pakistan in January. Hutchings agreed. It was during this visit that Hutchings freed two families and reported he «just got hooked.» He admits that the process is highly emotional. «It changes an entire family’s future for generations,» he explained.

Hutchings said that it is especially impactful to witness the change that freedom brings to children. «We get to ask them, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?» Hutchings said. «They probably haven’t even really thought about that. They’re [thinking] ‘I’m going to be a brick worker for the rest of my life, just like my parents.’»

Hutchings started his own nonprofit, Intentional Faith Foundation, which he now uses to collect donations from people who want to help free more slaves.

Christians demanded justice during a protest in Islamabad condemning attacks on churches in Pakistan on August 20, 2023. Pakistan is one of the top 10 worst countries for Christian persecution, according to a new report. (Aamir Qureshi/AFP via Getty Images)

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Just months after his first journey, Hutchings returned to Pakistan in May to free an additional ten families. After video of his visit went viral, Hutchings said that his nonprofit raised enough funds to save another family from enslavement.

The practice of bonded slavery was outlawed formally in Pakistan in 1992, Hall says, but «enforcement remains weak.» Discrimination extends beyond the bonded labor environment, with the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom noting in 2025 that there were «recent and escalating attacks against religious minorities» in Pakistan, including Christians.

During his recent visit, Hutchings learned that securing housing was difficult, with many landlords refusing to rent to Christians. Eventually, a Pakistani Christian group working with families was able to find housing and jobs for parents, and located a teacher for the children who were largely illiterate.

After paying the debts of a family of Pakistani Christians, Aaron Hutchings embraces a newly-freed brick laborer. Courtesy of Aaron Hutchings. (Courtesy: Aaron Hutchings.)

In a 2023 report, Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights released a series of recommendations for diminishing the pain that bonded labor brings to approximately three million Pakistanis. In her introduction, the group’s chairperson stated, «It is deeply appalling that in the 21st century, slavery persists in the form of bonded labor.»

Among its recommendations are forbidding children from laboring in brick kilns, helping laborers access justice and creating unions for collective representation. They suggest registering all brick kilns, increasing the use of automated machinery, and encouraging brick purchasers to buy bricks from kilns «that provide a safe and decent working environment.»

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Representatives of the Pakistani government did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about the enforcement of laws against bonded labor, or about the treatment of Pakistani Christians. Neither Hutchings nor Hernandez reported having complications with the Pakistani government when working to free brick kiln laborers.

For Hutchings, the work has been transformative. «Looking back, it is hard to see any of it as random. I believe God’s hand was in it from the beginning, and even though we were doing all of this to show Jesus’ love towards these people, we ended up receiving more than we gave.»

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Se confirmaron muertos y heridos por el ataque de este domingo. Foto: EFE

Spencer Pratt’s independent bid to make the Los Angeles mayoral runoff hangs in the balance nearly a week after Election Day.

With the jungle primary leaving incumbent Democrat Mayor Karen Bass already ruled to have advanced to a November runoff, Pratt’s margin over Democrat City Councilmember Nithya Raman has slimmed to just 1% with a few thousand ballots left to make up the difference.

Pratt led Raman by just 7,494 votes in the latest AP elections tally with 78% of the vote counted to date. Bass remained in first place with 235,180 votes (34.8%), while Pratt had 184,596 votes (27.3%) and Raman had 177,102 votes (26.2%).

Los Angeles County continues to count ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by Tuesday, June 9, drawing the attention of the Republican National Committee. The election results must only be counted within 30 days and certified by July 10.

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«The California primary ended on June 2, 2026; yet California is still counting ballots,» the RNC website tracker counting the seconds since polls closed reads.

«The state’s election system is a complete joke. The RNC is tracking every hour it takes California to finish the count.»

The latest ballot update gave Raman another boost, as she picked up 23,514 votes in the latest batch, more than double Pratt’s 10,336-vote gain. That cut Pratt’s lead by 13,178 votes in a single day and pushed the contest for second place into uncertain territory.

Pratt posted a meme to X decrying the ongoing ballot count in the race.

«Me trying to figure out how votes get counted in LA,» he wrote Saturday night.

Los Angeles Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt had become a viral sensation with his campaign ads, but pundits now expect his upstart campaign to unseat a Democrat mayor is going to come to an end. (Highfive/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Under California’s top-two primary system, if no candidate wins more than 50% of the votes, the two highest vote-getters advance to the general election. The AP reported that Bass advanced to the runoff after finishing first in the crowded mayoral primary, while Pratt and Raman continued battling for the remaining November spot.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., pointed to California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom when discussing the delayed results.

«The question to the rest of the world is what happened to California elections? Well, I’ll tell you, it’s Gavin Newsom,» McCarthy told Fox News’ «Sunday Morning Futures.» «When Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California, you knew who was elected in a day to two days. Now it takes more than weeks, almost a month.»

«Why did we get here?» McCarthy continued. «Gavin changed a number of election laws in which you want to see is what did he do and why did he cause it?»

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The slow count has drawn heightened attention because later-counted ballots have steadily cut into Pratt’s lead.

Longtime Democrat strategist Michael Trujillo told The California Post on Saturday that the trend pointed to a likely runoff appearance for Raman, calling the late ballot counting «normal» for California and telling critics to «go back to where you came from.»

«I was always a little jealous of east coast elections getting so much attention in the media and on this app, yeah nevermind,» he wrote on X. «The stupidity from these out of state analysts and reporters and the bots and fake accounts it brings to what is really a very NORMAL process happening in Los Angeles and California is annoying.

«Go back to where you came from, thanks.»

Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman might wind up No. 2 to fellow Democrat Mayor Karen Bass and advance to the November runoff. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

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Conservatives on X are decrying the probability of Pratt being shut out of the runoff.

«Spencer Pratt is likely going to be overtaken by far left Nithya Raman today,» Robby Starbuck wrote on X. «This graph shows the count on Election Day through last night. «Nithya did this by suddenly winning 1st in every new ballot drop.

«North Korean ‘elections’ have more self respect. Even they’d find it absurd for 3rd to suddenly jump to 1st place in every ballot drop DAYS after an election. It’s just ludicrous.»

That post also brought the attention of X owner Elon Musk.

«The reason ID is banned in California (and New York) elections is to enable large-scale fraud,» Musk claimed on X, replying to Starbuck’s post. «When you combine no ID and mail-in voting, fraud is de facto legalized.»

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Starbuck noted the historic run Raman’s count has made.

«ChatGPT can’t find a single example of a 3rd place candidate surging, days AFTER Election Day, to overtake 2nd place,» he wrote Sunday morning. «It couldn’t find 1 example in all of American history. That’s what’s happening with Nithya Raman & Spencer Pratt.

«Los Angeles has 3rd world country elections.»

Democrats merely point back to an overwhelming edge in registered Democrat voters versus Republicans, even if Pratt is running as an independent.

«IF SOMETHING CAN BE EXPLAINED BY A CONVOLUTED CONSPIRACY THEORY—OR SIMPLE MATH—THEN MATH ALWAYS WINS,» Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., wrote on X. «LA Registered Voters. Approximate number of Dems: 1,224,737 Approximate number of Republicans: 326,292.»

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Americans «want to see election integrity,» McCarthy told host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday.

«They want to see transparency and they want to see timely reporting: We had that in California,» McCarthy, a former Republican House member in the deep-blue state, said. «We were very liberal in the rules about absentee ballots, but we had accountability.»

«We had cut off voter registration 30 days before the election. That helps the registrars to know who’s going to vote and the candidates,» he continued. «Now we have same day voter, and you don’t have to show ID. Gavin changed the rules where he mails ballots to everyone. So he took away the choice to Californians to vote in person or to vote absentee. Everybody gets mailed a ballot. But he didn’t clean up the rolls. So that raises doubt in people’s minds.»

McCarthy noted Raman’s Election Night disappointment was originally telling.

«When you look at the LA mayor’s race, the third place person gave it like a concession speech that night and cried, and she was getting the most votes in the last drop,» McCarthy said. «So if she didn’t even believe that she could move up, that puts in question to the whole election itself. And that’s why it brings doubt to people.»

President Donald Trump had weighed in, too, with the RNC pointing to the pending Watson v. RNC Supreme Court decision on late ballot counting due soon.

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The Watson decision might come before the end of June.

«.@POTUS is right,» the RNC’s Election Integrity unit posted on X. «That’s why the RNC has boots on the ground and is fighting in the Supreme Court to stop ballots received after Election Day from being counted. MAKE ELECTIONS SECURE AGAIN!»