So.. You Support Slavery?

This November, Americans have a choice to make. This election is not just about returning President Trump to the White House or giving Kamala Harris the promotion she so desperately wants. It’s about voting for America. Not the America that the far-left envisions – one defined by speech policing, banning gun ownership, and an ever-increasing shift towards socialism – it’s about voting for an America defined by humanity and policies that help achieve the goal of making the United States once again a global paradigm for how humanity is supposed to function. 

In 2020 when he was running for President, Joe Biden gave speech after speech about his desire to restore the “Soul of America” and claimed that re-electing Donald Trump would diminish that soul. However once he made his way to the Oval Office, he allowed that soul to not only be corrupted, he unwittingly made scores of Americans complicit in some of the most heinous crimes known to man.

In 2021, Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Act to ensure that any goods made by forced slave labor does not find its way into American markets. The goal was to stop any American dollars from incentivizing China to continue these despicable human rights abuses and ensure that no American citizen was unknowingly contributing to these atrocities. 

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, millions of t-shirts, dresses, and pants made of slave cotton have waltzed into American shelves and retail stores as the Department of Homeland Security fails to stop their entry – much like they ignore the caravans of people flooding our Southern Border. Laws put in place to prevent this have gone unenforced. This boils down to a failure to adhere to the principle President Reagan made famous. 

This administration always trusts but fails to ever verify. They take nefarious cotton suppliers – not to mention Chinese-brands like Shein and Temu – at their word that these goods are made ethically yet fail to test them to ensure that is the case. Common sense should tell them that selling t-shirts at less than half of market value does not pass the sniff test. Even Saturday Night Live knows these companies’ claims are utterly false. 

Despite pressure from lawmakers like Sen. Tom Cotton for government intervention, Customs and Border Patrol continues to be asleep at the wheel. The result? China’s slavery-driven industry balloons its profit.

We at Nine Line know this because we have seen it first hand and have the test results to back it up. Last year, Nine Line began to conduct the ‘verify’ process that DHS did not, uncovering garments from one of the top garment suppliers in the country, Next Level Apparel (DBA YS Garments), that were consistent with coming from Xinjiang. As a result, we have cut off business with them until they can prove that slave cotton has been removed from their entire supply chain. Unfortunately these business practices seem to be part of a pattern of behavior, as their credit rating has since cratered after recently disclosing their supply chain is tainted with cotton from Xinjiang.

Nine Line is committed to continue testing all our suppliers and will be doing so on a consistent basis to ensure all of our inventory is in compliance with U.S. law. Any Nine Line supplier that has done business with Next Level Apparel will see inventory retested and is not on notice they are under the microscope. Transparency and trust are paramount to us and to our relationship with our customers and we will not waiver in that. 

And now as she runs for President, Kamala Harris has refused to present a clear border enforcement plan that not only stops these actions from happening, but also how to stop the litany of other crimes that happen along our open border, including child trafficking and drug smuggling. Vice President Harris cannot run away from the fact that when given the reins of authority, she subsequently handed them to those who would do us harm. 

Former NYPD Commissioner and Homeland Security expert, Bernard Kerik, has sought to put policy at the center of this debate, calling on President Trump to define his first 100 days in office with serious teeth to the Uyghur Forced Labor Act and other laws that regulate what comes across our borders. That includes actually conducting testing on products coming from overseas to ensure their point of origin is consistent with where their suppliers’ claim. Basic verification would be miles ahead of where Sec. Mayorkas currently stands on this issue. 

And while cracking down on these illicit practices is beneficial to our national security, it is also a boon to our economy. Currently, small Main Street businesses are struggling to stay afloat as it is virtually impossible for them to sell their products at competitive prices with brands that can set prices at pennies on the dollar due to negligible labor costs. Businesses that pay a fair wage, offer competitive benefits and vacation, and safe working conditions inherently must charge higher prices than those who have their t-shirts made by an enslaved prisoner who committed the crime of practicing their religion. 

By leveling the playing field and actually enforcing our laws, American businesses will have more capital to expand manufacturing facilities, brick and mortar retail stores, and printing operations here in the United States. This will in turn provide a job base for the next generation who are entering the workforce, thus giving financial incentive to some of these slave companies' largest customer base to spend their money elsewhere.

This is what protecting and and uphold the American soul looks like - not just paying lip service to it. This November, I encourage all my fellow Americans to vote for America. Vote for humanity. And vote for the candidate who will ensure that when the world looks to us, they see the shining city on a hill we have the potential to be.