Amber Batts

Cue the spooky music...Halloween is here!
This is the time of the year that I reflect on how quick kids grow up. Mine have been out of the house for years. One isn't even in this country. I miss doing all the holiday things with them. Grateful for friends and their kids!

It's a hybrid. Podcast and writings...

FFS

The Harm Done in a nutshell Welcome...

Well this is happening. I got some distance and I'm ready to unpack Alaska's most recent serial killer, Brian Steven Smith >>although they haven't charged him for the others!<< Let's pull the thread. The Harm Done Substack and companion podcast.
substack.com/@amberbatts/...

Get tickets! This will be really interesting!
Join Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP) for an engaging evening of films, history, fundraising, and conversation.

cuspoctober2025.eventbrite.com

‘Welcome to hell’: Inside the megaprison where the U.S. deported migrants Interviews with 16 former detainees of El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center offer the most complete view yet of conditions inside the notorious prison.

One was beaten unconscious. Others were covered in bruises, struggling to walk or vomiting blood. Another said he’d been sexually assaulted.

These are the stories of 16 former detainees who were deported to El Salvador’s mega prison.

I have much more to write about it, but I'm in the middle of writing a book that I went on the Camino to get some space from.

5 Life Truths I Rediscovered Walking the Camino Solo as a Single Woman Solo female traveler walks the Camino de Santiago and rediscovers 5 life truths. A journey of healing, courage, and inner strength on the trail.

I'm back after walking Camino. Leon to Santiago de Compostela. A much needed time to let this last 18 months shake out and replenish my soul.

"Sometimes the hardest trail to take is the one where you let it be easier."

amberbatts.com/2025/07/25/5...

More will be revealed... not answers, but more.

One of the reasons it's hard for me to listen to podcasts is because I know so much information about this case, which has been difficult and is really the precipitating event leading to finally walk the Camino De Santiago.
I head out on a plane to embark on this less than 36 hours.

This isn't a perfect podcast but they have many things right, but still don't love parts of it where they share information about Kathleen that is harmful and personal information about Veronica that was unnecessary.

I looked at their credits and sources and they read a few things I wrote.

I'm always hesitant to listen to anything to do with BS because so many podcasts get it wrong, share untrue information or otherwise sensationalize and make it something it wasn't. It really frustrates me when they victim blame and further harm the victims of this man.

Case 320: Veronica Abouchuk & Kathleen Henry | Casefile True Crime

Listened to this podcast earlier because of a recommendation.

If you're not sick of hearing about the Brian Steven Smith case, BS, take a listen tell me what you think.

shows.acast.com/casefile-tru...

Human Trafficking Unit Continues Efforts to Address Crime in Northeast Portland During the last three months, the Portland Police Bureau continued directed patrol efforts along Northeast 82nd Avenue and Northeast Sandy Boulevard in response to ongoing community complaints and obs...

Looks like PDX is still a Cease It city, and another sting just happened. The DA is fully on board with this - and gets a lot of support from non-profits like Safety Compass. Check out the names on this list.
www.portland.gov/police/news/...

Illicit Massage Parlors That Profit From Sex Trafficking Are Multiplying Around the City. No One Stops Them.

Migrant sex workers are harmed daily by criminalization, racial profiling, surveillance, over policing, stigmatization, and in this case a Portland reporter who's been sitting in parking lots of massage parlors to watch men go in and out. www.wweek.com/news/2024/09...

Human Trafficking Mission Results in Arrests, Citations (Photo) During the first week of August, Portland Police Bureau’s Human Trafficking Unit (HTU) conducted directed patrol missions along NE 82nd Avenue with the assistance from Central, East, and North P...

Portland cops continue to use failed "End Demand" ops to target mostly Hispanic men.
13 sex workers, who are referred to as "providers", were ID'd.
NO TRAFFICKING www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/...

Portland...what's going on? There are so many badass sex worker activists in Portland I'm surprised these cops are pulling this shit.

Did Rep. Sarah Vance really just ask if there are any notable Hispanics in Alaska?

I heard it loud and clear. This kind of erasure is unacceptable.
Let’s show her just how notable our community is.
Give her a call: 907-465-2689
Let her know your name, your story, and why you matter.

If someone like me can be honored with this award, then I can damn well do the Camino de Santiago.

Journalists offer regular, outstanding examples of fortitude to spotlight, but often unsung heroes outside the working profession distinguish themselves by assisting the press, the government, academia, business and/or others in protecting First Amendment rights.

Activists. Advocates.

Here's a picture of me with the First Amendment Award from the Alaska Press Club I received this month.
What is that?
The Alaska Press Club honors the outstanding performance of an individual, group, project and/or organization for contributions to the cause of First Amendment values.

I don't have all the answers but you know what? I don’t need them to begin.

I’ve questioned everything...am I too old? No.
Too out of shape? Kinda.
Too broke? No.
Too scared? Maybe.

I’m done being afraid and unable to make a decision. I've been learning Spanish.
I got my tickets. I’m doing the Camino in June.

Knowing that the Schengen areas are going to be implementing ETIAS shortly (very similar to the ETA) I can only assume my travel will be denied at that time.

I don't want to regret missing my chance.

My sex trafficking charge has impacted my life in many ways. It hasn't stopped me from living my life to the fullest. I'm priveledged and I don't forget that. In spite of that bullshit charge.

Which broke my heart. I guess I can watch my daughter graduate online. And I'm not the only parent denied. But damn.

Then I was denied entry to the UK to see my daughter graduate this summer. Shoutout to the ETA. I had hoped that because I've been over there three times already that they would look at my case and approve my visa.
They did not.

The Camino de Santiago stayed with me. No books, no maps in Hiland Correctional, just one episode and a promise I made to myself: One day, I will walk that.
But life happened. Fear, uncertainty, excuses. Covid. Dogs. Other trips.
I kept pushing it off.

An Alaskan Life of Sex Trafficking In 2003 I had two young children and my first husband and I were two months behind in our mortgage, a home we had just moved into less than a year before. I had been homeless before and swore it wo…

It was the idea of walking with purpose, of reclaiming my life, one step at a time. It kept the hope in me when I felt I had lost everything for some real bullshit charges.

If you didn't know all that you can read this amberbatts.com/2018/09/22/a...

I’d never heard of it, but something in me lit up. It wasn’t religion that pulled me in. I'm spiritual, not religious. God and I have complicated relationship.