By Jen Heger - Breaking Celebrity News Assistant Managing Editor

The United States Department of Homeland Security is investigating the Church of Scientology over shocking allegations of human trafficking, according to a new report.

"Agents with Homeland Security working out of its Tampa office have been interviewing former members of the church who have information about the way children are used as laborers in Scientology’s Sea Organization and other matters," alleges Tony Ortega, the former Editor In Chief of the Village Voice, who is currently working on a blockbuster tell-all about the controversial religion, in a new article posted on his blog.

Ortega claims that the investigation has been going on for nearly a year and is focused on allegations made by former members of the elite Sea Org unit that they were forced to work extremely long work days, with little to no pay and required to sign billion year contracts with the church.

Homeland Security has reportedly met with former followers of the controversial religion, who have allegedly relayed information about how children are used as laborers within Sea Org.

Despite the damning testimony of the ex-church members, Ortega asserts that the investigation appears to be losing steam because "proving human trafficking offenses in the Church of Scientology is a legally difficult proposition."

Meanwhile, the Church of Scientology maintains that there is no such investigation.

"The allegations referred to by Tony Ortega are the same false claims that have been raised by a small group of disaffected anti-Scientologists for years," a spokesperson told Breaking Celebrity News. "When two such former Scientologists, Marc and Claire Headley, attempted to bring a lawsuit alleging such claims, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found those claims to have been both without factual basis and barred by the religio