One of the women said that these children have good mothers, I question that.

Why do the mothers stand idly by then when their young boys some as young as 12 are kicked out of the home by the church leaders or the father because they don't choose to abide by the churches strict dress code or want to attend movies or some such thing?

A really good mother would stand in the way and protest, I have never herd of that happening. A really good mother if she didn't get her way, would call child protective services and say my husband or my church leader won't let my child back into the home or back into the community and he is only 12 years old.

You may be good mothers within the confines of your culture, but you are not good mothers. Fact is your culture is degenerate and that is why the larger society has stepped in and interviened.

I'd say most of the mothers really are good. But they live in a climate where it's "sit up or shut up" ... and I really don't think they have much power to better their children's lives, let alone their own.

I'd the men in this picture who are the real culprits. Especially those in positions of power who make this ranch a living hell for some many who live there.

But please, be careful blaming the mothers. It's hard to know when a mother "signs off" to the culture if she's too scared to speak up, or too brainwashed to care anymore.

What makes the FLDS so unsettling to me is that girls become mothers so early. As a mother, I know that I became vulnerable in a whole new way because I was responsible for this young, helpless infant. My life became settled in an entirely new way, and once a teenage girl has had a baby, her life will probably always be tied to the FLDS community. While I don't approve of polygamy, at least let it be practiced among adults old enough to consent -- at least 21. This could solve a lot of problems.

While it's true that child abuse occurs in every culture (I've read these types of comments in plenty of threads), I would hope that we make a distinction between a society where abuse is condemned and is the exception rather than the rule.
The FLDS have created an environment where child abuse (and abuse of women)is sanctioned by God, and consequently is not just ignored, but condoned. We can't say that the likelihood of abuse wouldm't change for the worst in such an environment.
This is true for any society where women and children aren't afforded equal rights. Just recently I read an article where an eight year old girl in Yemen is seking a divorce from her adult husband (I said it right) on the grounds of physical and sexual abuse. How common is it that an eight year old is married in Yemen? Not all societies are created equally. The FLDS aren't victims from this raid. They're victims of their own culture.

I personally know some "pligs" that are good mothers and have raised some wonderful children, but this weird Fundamentalist culture of old men preying on young girls not yet old enough to know and understand about thinking for themselves and then impregnating them and calling it sacred marriage is rubbish. BE CAREFUL about removing the women and children...I think that the men should be taken out of there after all the questioning is done and that is where the true investigation of abuse should begin.

How could the Deseret News put such a one sided story up. Were there any questions asked? This is like a ad for the FLDS attys. it was also shocking how the camera managed to avoid the portrait of Warren Jeffs on the wall nice shooting was this a handout tape. Now we know how the Deseret gets all the scoops they are the mouthpiece for the FLDS. Why dont you guys join up with Dr Phil and do more stories like this since ethics dont matter.

My heart bleeds for the people who have been duped by this cult. I pray that they will be blessed with the realization that they are cult victims and the strength to leave and begin new lives in freedom. And I hope that anyone committing crimes, especially their leaders, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Oh the humanity.

This is a tragic story from every point of view, but I appreciated the opportunity to hear from the mothers and see that they are not as alien as I had supposed. Good story.

To get another side of the story, read "Under The Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer or "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop.

Can you say brainwashed?? Nobody is saying the children are guilty of anything; the authorities are maintaining the innocence of the children by saving them from abuse or future abuse. This kind of behavior might be tolerated in Utah but most definitely not in Texas. And when I say "behavior" you know exactly what I mean! 50 year old men are not supposed to be screwing 15 year old girls.

I find it hard to believe that a whole community can be pulled apart based on one unidentified girls statement...am I missing something here???

was do the people in the video all speak in the same measured tones...it sounds so unrealistic, don't you think?

I agree. The women and the children are victims. The men are the ones who should be removed and questioned. These FLDSers are just as bad as any male-dominated religion, thinking they are the only group in the world that has God's favor. When are people going to get their heads out and realize how insane they are?!
They're almost as bad as the Taliban, the way they use women, like property, all in the name of God. There are plenty more crazy sects in the world just like them, that subjugate women. It's sickening that this is still happening in America.

All Latter Day Saints of any brand including the "Mainstream" LDS are cult members. All are brainwashed and their missionaries deceive people all over the world with their fancy shiny temples and short haircuts. I feel sorry for them.

like a mother that wants her children back.they look like they cried a lot over this .Texas has turned into the abuser.

The state of Texas has overstepped it's authority. I don't agree with FLDS at all. But punnish those who are involved in child abuse. NOT every family is an abuser. If one guy in my stake has abused a child (and it's happended) that does not mean that every man in the stake is an abuser, and that every child should be removed. The Texas gestapo also took precious photos of the children. Why? Let the mothers have their children, and proscute the abusers. Why is OK for a baptist 14 yr old girl to have a baby, but not a FLDS one? Both had unlawful sex. Make it clear in the state of Texas, if your 14 yr old gets pregnant, your neighborhood will get cleared out of kids. Because there MUST be something going on in the hood to foster this type of behavior.

I am afraid I don't understand the situation. It is my understanding that polygamy is a criminal act under United States Law. Texas requires a court order for a marriage if one party is under sixteen. The marriage age is eighteen in the state of Texas. If these statutes have been violated, why aren't the guilty parties being prosecuted? Why are child abuse charges being contemplated when polygamy charges have not been filed? If no crime can be ascertained why have the children been removed from their parent's custody? Does the federal goverment have the ability to remove children from their homes because a crime is suspected? I must admit that it is awfully difficult to understand what has happened at the YFZ Ranch.

The "mother's" tone of voice is bothersome. It lacks emtion. Maybe it's from the brainwashing

You know the Arabs have many wives, and by 12years old they are strapping on bombs. Some asks why the people of this video talk like that? Because they are God fearing people who have just lost everyone they love. I know I would screaming and fighting, wishing the people harm that stole my kids away.
So they do not live like you live, so what. There?s a lady on the news that acts weird. She left this group years ago and been on the news encouraging this abduction. She probable called the police with a false complaint. I watched her closely and by her comments she seemed like a feminist who hated all men. The gay type that thinks anyone opposing them are wrong. It seems freedom of religion only has meaning to the secularists who have corrupted that Amendment to mean; freedom from religion. An attitude that serves wealthy elitists who fashion themselves as the true light and throw us the bone of socialism. I hate to be a pessimist but everyday brings new addendum that makes me think the great American experiment is really over. I pray someone sues the pants off the Texas authorities, and wins.

I can't believe this! The only thing we know about what went on in that "compound (I mean, apart from what the storm-trooping invaders have suggested to us)" is that 400+ children have been ripped away from their families by (putatively) 'well meaning' government apparatchiks. Apparatchiks with guns and arrogant attitudes.

Just like at Waco, we DON'T know that ANYONE has been 'abused' DESPITE the fact that most of here seem to have judged otherwise--most notably the press.

America? A 'free' country? Man, please! Worship God the wrong way or tell the rest of this sick society what to go do with itself, and you, too, might find yourself accused of sexual abuse by a non-existent 16 year old girl, and then summarily executed while otherwise innocently "holing up" in your "compound"!

These wemon are disgusting. How dare they seek sympathy when they throw out unwanted boys and gift the little girls to old men in the name of Heavenly Father.

I think that they are speaking that way because it is an effort to stay composed after suffering such injustice at the hands of "the law."

Everyone is throwing out all these accusations based on hearsay and rumor. The national media is so outrageously biased and indulging in rumor and fiction that it is laughable. We now have a society that condemns those that cling to a traditional life style while promoting all sorts of "new," socially untried,, and likely destructive life styles. Ever heard of calling evil, good and good, evil. Look it up.

Where is everyone's out rage about Hugh Hefner? Where is everyone's outrage at 15 year olds engaging in sexual activity with ANYONE!

I've said it once and I'll keep saying it, HYPOCRITES!

This is a very moving video that matches my personal experience with child protective services, the county sheriff, and the school attendance review board in the Canejo Valley Unified School District in Ventura County California. I am a homeschooling parent with a PhD in EE from Stanford University and a BS in Physics from MIT. The CVUSD designated my 8-year-old son a "habitual truant" and presented absolutely terrifying police force to him and his mother. When my child responded to this terror by crying and vomiting, the school district dropped my child from school rolls and pretended he did not exist. Since then, my "habitual truant" received an $80K merit scholarship at Johns Hopkins University when he was 17 and he is just now graduating with his MS in computer science. I predict that the dishonesty and abuse of child protective services towards some of the best parents will have catastrophic social consequences. Those children will remember being taken from their families for the rest of their lives.

These women were obviously put up to making these videos. I'm sure their feeling of loss for their children is real, but they are being used as propaganda by their church to try to sway public opinion.

There is something wrong with both of these women, and they are far removed from reality. Frankly, I hope they are rescued from this sick environment, which has been proven in a court of law to foster pedophilia.

What Texas did is what AZ and UT should have been doing for the last 55 years. If AZ and UT gave a hoot about all the children who have been kidnapped, raped, abandoned, starved in the name of fasting, used to fraudulently rip off the taxpayer, beaten and possibly murdered in "blood atonement," the cult would not have gotten so out of control that the state had to take all the children and begin to try to deprogram them so they can think for themselves as humans are supposed to do.

Folks, there is a huge difference between a child who is generally cooperative and taught to behave well and one who is brainwashed, threatened, lied to, beaten, raped, abandoned, and terrified of anyone who doesn't do this to them! These kids, all of them, are abused psychologically, and it appears that many or most are abused physically at times and can look forward to or have already experienced a great deal of sexual abuse if they are girls or the kind of abuse that comes when you teach boys to look forward to raping multiple teenagers throughout their lives.

Thank you, Texas! You did the right thing!

Why is no one mentioning the massive fraud going on with relation to government propgrams these people are benefitting from. All the "other wives" pitch themselves as single parents so that all of us taxpayers are footing the bill to provide them with benefits that are in turn given to this group and Warren Jeffs in particular. These poor kids have no idea what a normal life is. I dont know why this was not stopped long ago.

I've been following these comment boards for a few days now. I don't know how many times people have said "At least Texas is doing what Utah is afraid to." Guess what, in the 50's Utah and Arizona DID try to do something. Then the media began to turn public opinion against the authorities by drawing sympathy for the polygamists... kind of like this one. Public outcry grew and they were put back in their homes. I would not be surprised if the outcome in Texas is the same as half a century ago in Colorado City. While I do feel bad for these women, something had to be done.

As a Evangelical man, the problem is with the men. These children deserve to be returned to their mothers and siblings. Every day they are in the care of the state, the best interests of the children are worsened. It is very clear that when a young and impressionable girl is married off to some patriarchal male, they cannot think for themselves. What a sad situation brought on by some delusional cult-based males.

If I understand it correctly, there are over 130 mothers who left the compound on their own...they weren't forced, they wanted to be with their children...so why are these women on the video crying when they could have gone with their children like the other mothers???? Men who abuse children should be dismembered in one specific place so they can't abuse anymore.

These women do not love their children. If they did, they would not hand their daughters over to 50 year old men for sex on a bed in the middle of the 'temple.' I don't understand why the states don't raze these polygamist ranches. Do what they need to do. It is government-sanctioned child abuse and welfare abuse since they do nothing but stand idly by.

The issue is really not one of polygamy or spiritual marriage or freedom of religion, etc. It is rather, a black and white issue of statutory rape. In our nation of laws, any man, and that means ANY man over the age of 18 who can be proven to have had sex, consensual or otherwise with a female he knew or a reasonable person would have known was under the age of 18 should spend decades in prison, and come out labeled a sex offender for life. Period. If these people want to live in a primitive society, then they need to form their own self sufficient nation and leave mine.

Judge ye, lest ye be judged!!!

Nothing I saw or heard in that 3 minute clip alleviated my view that these women and their children have been grossly brainwashed and are in desperate need of help--not the passive, plaintive, weak voices of their mothers or the barren scenes of the compound.

That is a very good point "there are over 130 mothers who left the compound on their own ... they weren't forced, they wanted to be with their children". So, if the mother on this video ARE wanting to be with their children, they had a chance to go and didn't !?!?!?!?! There shouldn't be a mother left in that compound right now, they SHOULD have gone with their children but they didn't !?!?!?! I'm not that sympathetic with the women, you COULD HAVE GONE with your children ! Prosecute the men for heaven's sakes and the women who "abandoned" their children by not going with them !!!!! Good grief !

Even their attire is just flat out bizarre. It's sad that these people live in such a bubble and are sheltered from the realities ....good and bad which comprise life. That's not living. That's just sticking your head in the sand.

The man obviously was brought up in the church because although he is trying to act caring and soft spoken his words reveal more. He misses having numerous kids greeting him when he comes home. He doesn't want to sleep in the house without his family, he feels persecuted.
It is all I I I coming from him. He doesn't really mention that he worries about the women or the children just what his experience as a "man" is.

They are not being prosecuted for polygamy because they are only legally married to one woman.

i guess I will just pray to Jesus, to deliver the captive and heal the brokenhearted.
it is what He came to do.

It's about time both the U.S. and Canada start using the anti-poligamy laws of their countries and start charging the FLSD members. We, the taxpayers, continue to support this cult by paying welfare benefits to those mothers who apply as single parents while 'married' to a cult male.

These people are raised to be baby makers, not free-minded HUMANS. This is very disappointing by the fact that women have fought for equal rights for years, and it doesn't matter what kind of religious background. It wasn't a matter of being a good wife or following the Bible, it was to not be abused THIS way and having the same opportunities that any man has. If you listen carefully to what they are saying, it is very rehearsed and instilled into them. "A child needs a mother"-What about the kids raised by single fathers who grow up to be fine, and in that case, doesn't a child need a father too? The father knows nothing more than to make a baby and make more of people like them.

This is religious persecution to an extent, but it is also to support the law of our country and the best interest of freedom of speech and of religion for anyone else there. They don't know that they don't have to be THAT religion, they only know their religion, and without education or exposure to an outside world, they are treated as mules and eggsacs of a corrupted cult.

Think this is a cult? Definition of a cult a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.. Any group can be called a cult. How about the Republican cult or the Democrat cult. See how the media and government use words that have a negative connotation . What if a person called the government hot line and said you were mistreating your children. At this point the police go on assumption not fact. They kick in your door take your children at gun point . Remember you have not broken the law. Do you have the money to clear you of these charges? The police have no proof that any person at that church has committed a crime. Everyone is quick to judge when it is not their church or family under attack. What about the Catholic Church they were committing child abuse why didn?t the government shut down this church and take the children for safe keeping. This is a attack on freedom. I don?t know if they are guilty and nether do you. What will you do when they come to get your children?

None of us know exactly what goes on in these compounds. But my question is why haven't they been able to identify the supposed 16 year old that made the phone call. And the very same scenario happened days later in Colorado City, Az. Most of us fear what we do not understand. I may not agree with their religeous beliefs or their way of life but it sure seems to me (in this nation of religeous freedom)that these people are being targeted for religeous persecution. When any child reports or alleges abuse should we remove every child from the neighborhood? Or should the allegations be investigated thoroughly, protecting that child from abuse. Most of these comments are all emotion and no logic. What are we coming to when we are so quick to judge before the facts are presented and start tearing families apart. Where is the proof that they comitting fraud? Charge them with that, if it is the case, don't make up lies or allegations. If these children weren't abused, they sure are damaged and scarred now.

The scenes in the video are clearly staged and scripted. How do we know that those women even have any children (we should assume they do). They speak of the children being innocent and sweet. They both used the same phrasing. The woman with the kleenex never shed a tear, only wiped her nose. This is clearly FLDS propoganda. The man they interviewed is just one they chose to speak to the press, just like the women, they were told exactly what to say! Those children are better off and the women that went with them have a chance to change their lives. Good luck to them all and God Bless Them. The State of Texas should be commended for their efforts and making sure that the violence stops. What others have said is true, read "Under the Banner of Heaven" educate yourself, this is not the last we will see or hear from groups like this. They silently exist among us and we do not questions what may go on behind the closed gates, because we have been taught to respect other's privacy.

Until the state of Texas can prove that these young children are being abused they should not be taken from their mothers. At least keep the mothers and children together while they sort out the legal issues.

Whatever this is, I expect our legal system to be accountable and have VERY good proof ALREADY in their possession. You don't go in a grab a town's worth of kids without some real proof.

FLDS may be misguided, but we don't need jackboots on top of it.

Bottom line ... These people live in America. America the land of the FREE. IN order to maintain those freedoms that you CHOOSE to have by living in this nation you abide by simple rules.
Laws that America and or the state that you CHOOSE to live in provide as voted on by the FREE people. If they can't abide by them then they can face the consquences just as any other criminal does that lives in this country.
However let's look at this as it really is-they moved to a place where the laws aren't enforced as they should be all the time due to a lack of government members of our FREE nation that WE the people employ to enforce the laws that WE the people voted to have! SO we have terrorists overseas that due this exact same thing to their women and children and we send all our resources there to rid that part of the world of it. NOW that we have made this a more public discussion of torture of the children in the USA lets send all our available resources now here- to rid this child abuse, neglect and torture as well!

PLEASE, JUST LET THE MOTHERS BE WITH THEIR CHILDREN. IT IS EXTREMELY CRUEL TO SEPARATE THEM.

Since the 4th millennium BC (beginning of recorded history), girls that have attained puberty have wed and bore children. It is only in the last 80-100 years that this practice has become socially unacceptable. Many of you reading this had great, great grandmothers that were the same age, or younger, than the girls of the FLDS faith. Does that mean that you shouldn't have been born? Does this mean that we are right - and 4,000 years of man's history should be viewed as being immoral? If we are right and history is wrong, then why do girls reach puberty when they do? If we are right, shouldn't puberty happen at 18 or 20 years old?

Also, take a moment and compare the quality of life of the people at this ranch with the quality of life found in many inner-city homes. Given the choice, I would take the ranch.

As a Texan, I can assure the doubters that the LAST THING the state of Texas and CPS wants is to deal with this problem. It's costing a fortune, but the fact of the matter is that they were called out to the ranch by a girl claiming to have been abused and (and this is important) THEY FOUND EVIDENCE THAT ABUSE WAS TAKING PLACE. Maybe in your world they should just ignore it. Thank God above that they don't in my world.

I have found that the statement that the children have made that many of them do not know who their fathers are, is frightening. Why isn't a simple paternity test taken on the children and connect them to who the father's are and figure out how old the the girls were when they impregnated? I bet you will find many of the men folk of this cult would be identified as child molestors.

As someone who is living right here in San Angelo, Texas I don't feel sorry for these women one bit !! They should have gone with there children."the state of Texas needs proof" WHAT PART OF 13YR OLDS WALKING AROUND OUR SHELTERS IS NOT PROOF ?? These men are sick and need to be ran out of town and there beautiful "temple" burned down!They are lucky that some Texan redneck hasn't already taken care of them to be quite honest. The women and children are all located in one area now, so things should be alot better for them and God knows they deserve the best, and that is what San Angelo is trying to offer them( even with it costing our city $60thousand a day , or so they say)

The root of the problem lies with the founders of LDS. The teachings laid down my Joseph Smith in their unvarnished truth. My personal experience with it is very much the legacy my ancestors left to me. The total landcape of Mormon beliefs and world view dictated my life for most of my 84 years. My family was secretive under the umbrella of sacredness. The exchange of wives by my great grandfather. and the suffering of women in the name of the Priesthood was never brought to it's true light. So we sit with all the fallout; not able to separate fact from fiction. The Mormon desire to be more Christian hides the elephant that will always be in the room until they are able to face it and discuss what happened and confess that FLDS are doing exactly what Joseph Smith and my Grandfather were doing. I am a descendant of the process and know. What really is happening in texas hinges on LDS religion for it's explanation.

Just because girls wed young and bore children young in the past doesn't mean its a practice that should still continue this day. Children were not protected by laws back then. Women and children were merely property. Do you think that should stay the same too?
I cannot believe there are people defending the practices of the FLDS. Yes, America is the land of the free. But it is also a land of laws. And two of those laws are that polygamy is illegal and a 40 year old man marrying a 14 year old girl is against the law! No matter how free a society is, there are still rules to live by.

Frank, dear...read a science book, please!!

Where are the men? They are the ones that should be held. Why punish the children????

I am surprised at some of the comments here. I understand that there are laws against polygamy and underage marraige. I do not condone underage marraige, and am not sure that I agree with all of the beliefs of the FLDS. But, the state of Texas has yet to prove that any crimes against children have even taken place. How would any of you like it if your neighbor's child accused him of abuse and so your children were cruely riped away from you? And if you were not listening the women were not allowed to stay with their children, they were forced to leave them. The authorities only let the women with children 5 and uner stay.

To the DES NEWS reporter(s)... when the FLDS women state they have "No idea why their children have been taken", could you perhaps have given them a hint as to why? For crying out loud, ask them some questions and point some things out to them. This was too one-sided!!!

Not all mothers were on the ranch when the children were imprisoned. When I was a teen it was legal in Illinois to marry at the age of 13. I am 61 and also had a child when I was a teen. So why has the law changed? Why baby a child for 18 years and then turn them into an adult with no skills or ability to survive. Is Big Brother here? Why is it ok to take all the children if only one person reported abuse and cannot be found?

Someone stated above that Utah tried to correct the situation with the raid in the 50s, without long term success. Yet, if the state of Utah is honestly concerned about the fate of these young girls, why doesn't it raise the age of consent from 14? How many other states in the union consider a 14 year old competent to legally consent to sex? It seems like the legislators wring their hands and shake their heads, but won't take any action that might make it easier to prosecute these men for indecent liberties with minors. I am for freedom of religion, all religions, but cannot condone pedophilia under any circumstances. And pedophilia wraped in the cloak of Jesus and religion? How do we as a society look the other way and in any way attempt to rationalize or condone that behavior?

Who is questioning the MEN over all of this? It is easy for me to see how brainwished these women are based on their body language, countenance and monotonous language. I want to hear what the men have to say, see their body language.

I was raised in the RLDS church(now known as Community of Christ)and am still a member(We are not a sect or cult and the Bible is one of our Scriptures). We(RLDS) have not now or at any time in the past practiced polygamy. The Book of Mormon, translated by Joseph Smith clearly states in the book of Jacob Chapter 2:32-33 ..."Thus saith the Lord...for they seek to excuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of things written concerning David, and Solomon. Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, WHICH THING WAS ABOMINABLE BEFORE ME, saith the Lord., Jacob Chapter 2:36 "Wherefore, my brethren, hearken to the word of the Lord; For there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none."
The rest of the chapter repeatedly and clearly condemns polygamy. The men of the FLDS are a bunch of pedophiles and control mongers using religion as an excuse to practice their perversions. The women were most likely raised, in the religion themselves and know nothing else. They have never been taught or allowed to think for themselves, and seem to have limited education. Cudos to Texas.

Texas needs to be "Messed with" after this nazi type of rampage on the family. 1) absolutely it should be out lawed in every state that any girl under the age of 18 is a child!!! 2) after that is determined in this mess, send the kids home with their families and BUTT OUT!!! I have never seen any cps case that has made the Family better off! they are educated under Godless,freudistic
ideals that have nothing to do with a loving family based foundation especially if it is centered on God, any God. Jews, Muslim, Mormons and Catholic watch out, you may be next. This has little to do with any of the charges that have been made and everything to do with communistic control over every aspect of our lives. If we allow this to happen with out the cps and governing forces at work to give accountability for their actions, we might as well raise the red flag of China over the state of Texas!!!

Has there ever been a study to see what these children have become in their adult lives? They seem to have no freedom at all. Also from what I understand, these people take, and take, and take from our government in the form of food stampa, and welfare (AFDC) Aide To Families With Dependand Children, which is only to fo to those children who have no father in the home. Could they not go to jail for fraude for doing this? What does this teach the children? To freeload all their lives! They are on state run government medical also, we are all paying for this abuse of our system. A good house cleaning is really needed from top to bottom. Being so isolated they will grow up only knowing one way, I was in a Catholic boarding school most of my life, and it has taken me until age 65 to know there are other things in this world, and I still am in fear when I see a Nun or Priest.Being locked in my room, which was called a "CELL" was not fun for a young child, I still have nightmares.

It is so obvious that these Women are trained and brainwashed what to say. I saw the Larry King show last night where he asked "Where is your husband" and no one would answer him. It's really horrible what they have been taught and the poor children's lives they have. It truly breaks my heart.

My question/comment involves inbreeding. Fumarase deficiency causing severe mental retradation, unusal facial features, brain malformation and epileptic seizures, etc. It is extremely rate. Until roughly 18 years ago scientists knew of only 13 cases worldwide. However, recently 20 additional cases have been documented in ar/UT Colorado City and Hildale. How many have been undocumented? These communities have been populated from the Jessop and Barlow families since the 1930's. A concern is the so-called "Lost Boys" who are dispelled from their communities and are now mainstream. Could they be caring this gene and infecting the general population should they have children? The media avoids speaking of this deficiency gene. It should be surfaced and discussed and this is surely child abuse along with everything else.I do not know much about DNA but would their DNA be a quagmire with all having the same genes. The communities surrounding CC/Hill refer to this disorder as "Polygamist's Down's". I could go on and on.....Where are the men?

I am tired of hearing how this is religious persecution! These people are hiding beneath the whole "Freedom of Religion" right. It is an EXCUSE for any dirty old man to say he is a part of a certain religion, that allows him to be a pedophile on multiple counts. People believe that they can do anything they want if they label it a religion! This "religion" that forces young men out, because they are competition for the dirty old men. This is not about how odd these people are, how they dress, talk, or anything of the like. This is about protecting children! Doesn't anyone think that by removing these women and children, that perhaps they were more apt to tell what has actually been going on without the fear of being closely monitored and truly persecuted by these horrible men?!?! As a Texan, I DO believe that CPS, and the foster care system are lax, and needs to be completely revamped, but does that mean that we should all stand idly by while this abuse continues, until the system is perfect? Something had to be done to insure the safety of these brainwashed children!

To any one in their right mind:
Any one can see that these Mothers love their children and will do anything for them.

This isn't about abuse it's strictly persecution of religion and personal beliefs!
I know some of these ladies and children personly and they are certainly not brain washed.
You who have not seen it with your own two eyes you know nothing!!!!!Are you a good Mother? What are you going to do when they take your children away?

First of all, how can they justify exposing children and/or adults to radiation against their will simply to determine at best an approximate age? True we use radiation for many diagnosis/treatments. But what Doctor would order mass X-Rays on children for this reason? Are they looking for possible fractures or some other type of abuse as well? This would at least be more reasonable. By the way, if they don't find any signs of abuse, the person responsibile for ordering the X-Rays against their will should face criminal charges of child abuse. They too need to be held accountable for their actions. I understand they claim to be doing all this to protect the children, then what right do they have to expose these same children to harmful radiation in order to make their case against their parents/religion. I feel like I'm watching a science fiction horror film? These children are alive, and their literal rights as humans are being violated. This can be proven in a court of law, and we are supporting this why? The allegations have yet to be proven against their parents. Who's playing God now?

What bothers me about watching these women is the robotic way in which they talk...always and forever saying in almost emotionless voices "the children need to be with their mothers"...it almost seems like a horror movie in which the women are all "Stepford-like"...weird!

They should be watched, steps should be taken to make sure that forced, underaged marrages do not take place. They should be pressured for a leadership change, but other than that they should be let to live the way they have been for over 100+ years. Live and let live, freedom of religion.

Some of you who are bothered by these Prairie women shouldn't watch them apparently, since it bothers us so much.
I'm wondering what will happen to the FDLS 1,700 acre ranch and the apparent large "estate" of the FDLS faith?
If a town or city within the U.S. were listed as one of the most corrupt cities in the country, should the mayor be investigated? Should the whole city be investigated? Should they also be paraded on national media as members of the most corrupt city in the U.S. and all declared guilty before due process?? I'll bet within the city there will be people who won't dress like "us" and won't talk much like us either.
I'm still wondering what is happening regarding the 1,700 acre ranch and the large 'estate' of the FDLS
people.
This is a constitutional mess.
As far as "disgust" or the lack thereof. I frequent a couple of night clubs. There is a 27 yr. old lady who has appeared several nights there without any underwear. Why? Perhaps because Britney has? Most of the men think it's great. The other ladies are disgusted. Disgust is a state of
mind?

I am glad you put your name on the comment. I will put your name one the prayer list at the Temple. It is unfortunate that some people don't actually do their research and just start pointing fingers with an uneducated tone. Soften that heart a little. I was beat by my father, I ended up in prison, and then found the LDS religion. Now I run a very successful business, have two beautiful children and an awesome wife. I own a home with a guest house. I wouldn't trade these blessing for what ever you've got going on there Rick.