Former Republican presidential candidate, businessman and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy raises awareness about human trafficking, a global human rights crisis, by telling a heartbreaking story, inspired by true events, about a young boy whose dreams are shattered when he is betrayed and enslaved as a child in the United States.

In “City of Dreams” we follow Jesús, a Mexican boy who is devastated that his football ambitions have been killed. He is smuggled across the American border to Los Angeles and forced into slavery in a sweatshop.

“I’m a father. I’m a father of two sons,” Vivek Ramaswamy, executive producer of “City of Dreams,” told Fox News Digital during a video interview. “That’s one of the things that made this film so uncomfortable for me, because it’s about a young boy who in a lot of ways reminded me of my two boys, just the way he was portrayed in the film and his actual story and his personality and his spark.”

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Vivek Ramaswamy was an executive producer on “City of Dreams,” a film about a young boy forced into modern-day slavery. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Roadside attractions)

Jesús nearly escapes captivity several times, but is again confronted with forced slavery.

“It’s something that takes you out of your comfort zone because you realize how widespread this problem really is, not only in other parts of the world, but here in the United States,” Ramaswamy said.

“It’s a life-changing film and a life-saving film,” one of the film’s producers, Tony Robbins, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “Twelve million children are enslaved around the world right now. And so many of them are in the United States, and people don’t even know it.”

Robbins said he was inspired to tell a story about child trafficking after helping with a secret rescue mission of 37 enslaved children, ages 7 to 14, in Haiti.

Bestselling author Tony Robbins told Fox News Digital he was inspired to tell a story about child trafficking in “City of Dreams” after helping rescue 37 enslaved children in Haiti. (Roadside attractions)

“It never left me,” Robbins said.

Americans mistakenly view human trafficking as adult sex labor and are therefore unaware of the conditions under which both adults and children engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, and military service.

“I find it unacceptable how little Americans know about this problem,” Ramaswamy said. “I find it inexcusable, and I don’t just blame politicians on both sides. And I think politicians on both sides deserve blame for how little has been done about this problem, but even me.”

Ramaswamy said it was only during his presidential campaign that he realized the scale of modern slavery worldwide.

With the number of migrants rising annually, Ramaswamy blames the open southern border for the scale of human trafficking in the U.S.

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In “City of Dreams” the viewer experiences the true story of a young Mexican boy who thought he would become a star football player, but instead was forced into human trafficking. (Roadside attractions)

“Let’s be very honest,” he said. “These are the consequences of many of our failed southern border policies over the last several years.”

Under the Biden administration, the number of illegal immigrants evading Border Patrol and crossing the southern border increased by 183%, coinciding with the end of the Trump administration and the first months of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in office, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) report obtained by Fox News Digital in May.

According to the source, the number of illegal immigrants avoiding officers grew by 56% in 2022 and by more than 10% in 2023.

“There is room for new legislation, but the real secret is that the existing laws are not being enforced. And that is what I would like to see happen,” Ramaswamy said.

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According to the Human Trafficking Hotline, California, Texas, Florida and New York were responsible for the lion’s share of human trafficking victims in 2023.

According to the U.S. State Department, an estimated 27.6 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking.

Millions of defenseless victims, some barely aware of it, are exploited and coerced by traffickers who profit from adults and children forced into domestic servitude and sexual acts, sometimes in their own homes.

“This is not a black versus white issue,” Ramaswamy said. “It certainly shouldn’t be a Democrats versus Republicans issue. The way I see it, if we can’t agree on the importance of solving child trafficking, labor trafficking, sex trafficking, then we’re really toast as a country.”

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“City of Dreams” will be in theaters on August 30, 2024. (Roadside attractions)

Ramaswamy said he is a concerned citizen who hopes to bring about change in the U.S. in “the biggest way possible.”

That’s why the author of “Woke Inc.” and host of the “Truth” podcast calls on wealthy philanthropists who have made the American dream a reality, activists, politicians and ordinary Americans to recognize the crisis and educate themselves and find solutions by educating themselves.

“The reality is that there is something about the power of a story, the power of a narrative, that can touch you in your heart, that can touch people in their hearts, so that they take action in a way that they wouldn’t if they were learning something in a more academic way,” Ramaswamy said.

“City of Dreams” was written and directed by Mohit Ramchandani.

While developing the story, Ramchandani studied cases of human trafficking.

“I wanted to tell a human story, and everyone has a dream,” Ramchandani told Fox News Digital in a phone call.

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Inspired by the 2009 drama “Precious,” Ramchandani wrote “City of Dreams” to reflect the cognitive coping behaviors of adults and children seeking solace in a happy place.

“I thought it was a very interesting device,” Ramchandani said.

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“You won’t come out of this film as a scholar of human trafficking in the United States, but you will come out of this as a human being who has been affected,” Ramaswamy said.

The film will be released in cinemas from August 30 via Roadside Attractions.