'Sound of Freedom' star and GOP lawmaker team up to find unaccompanied migrant kids
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and former DHS agent Tim Ballard discuss their efforts to have the Biden administration locate 85,000 minors who crossed the border unaccompanied on 'The Story.'
The former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent who inspired the hit film "Sound of Freedom" said Friday he is "very seriously considering" a run for the U.S. Senate in his home state of Utah to replace retiring Sen. Mitt Romney.
Tim Ballard made the announcement during an appearance on the digital show of former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer, where he said he had been approached by numerous "influential people" for weeks about a potential run before Romney announced Wednesday he would not be running for re-election.
"Since Sound of Freedom took out any opportunity for me to ever be an operator again — those days are done … They know my face. But starting several weeks ago, I've been asked by a lot of very influential people, names you would even know, asking me to throw in," Ballard said.
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Former DHS agent Tim Ballard, the inspiration for the hit film "Sound of Freedom," speaks outside the U.S. Capitol. (Rep. Chris Smith's Office)
Spicer noted Ballard lived in Utah, which the former admitted was the very seat he was asked to look at running for.
"I was very seriously considering it then. And now, I'll be honest, even mores very, very seriously considering," Ballard said.
When asked what would get him into the race, Ballard said his "wife and prayer."
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, speaks to the media about not running for a second Senate term in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington on Wednesday. September 13, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"So she says yes when you go home, you're in?" Spicer asked.
"That's how it's always worked in the past. So even before Senator Romney announced his retirement, a lot of things were building up to this consideration. I was with the president of Honduras last week, and the president of Guatemala last week, and I was just listening to them in their plight, in their tears, over the plight of their people because of our border policies," Ballard said.
Activist Tim Ballard poses during the red carpet for the movie 'Sound of Freedom' at Cinemex Antara Polanco on August 29, 2023 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Alan Espinosa/Getty Images)
"We're talking about millions of people being affected by forms of slavery because of the wind that our policies put into the sails of child traffickers. And I thought, there has to be something done — more done — at the federal level. So it just kept building and building and building. At the same time that's happening I'm getting phone calls from people," he said.
He added that confirmation Romney would not be running again took his consideration to the next level.
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