FBI: Over 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, found in nationwide operation

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FBI-Led Sweep Targeting Sex Traffickers Recovers Dozens of Minor Victims (FBI)

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Source: USA Today

FBI: Over 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 missing children, found in nationwide operation

Francisco Guzman
USA TODAY
Published 7:50 a.m. ET Aug. 2, 2023

The FBI rescued more than 200 sex trafficking victims and identified or arrested more than 125 suspects during a two-week nationwide operation last month, federal officials said Tuesday.

The FBI also found 59 victims of child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, and located 59 missing children during the July operation, the FBI said in a news release.

Nearly every FBI field office was involved in “Operation Cross Country,” an annual two-week nationwide initiative – now in its 13 year – focused on finding human trafficking victims.

During the operation, the FBI identified or arrested 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking and 68 suspects of trafficking, the FBI said.

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Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/02/fbi-human-trafficking-missing-children/70511500007/

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Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation

August 1, 2023

FBI-Led Sweep Targeting Sex Traffickers Recovers Dozens of Minor Victims

13th iteration of nationwide ‘Operation Cross Country’ involved hundreds of agencies

More than 200 victims of sex trafficking were rescued during a nationwide enforcement campaign last month that also included the identification or arrest of more than five dozen suspected human traffickers and 126 individuals accused of child sexual exploitation and trafficking offenses.

The FBI-led “Operation Cross Country,” which involved nearly every FBI field office and their respective state and local partners, also located 59 minor victims of child sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, and another 59 children who had been reported missing.

The two-week law enforcement initiative—now in its 13th year—is a coordinated operation among the FBI, other federal agencies, state and local police, and social services agencies across the country to find and assist victims of human trafficking, particularly child victims. Law enforcement agencies conduct targeted operations to identify traffickers, their networks, and their victims. FBI victim specialists, working alongside local agencies, then provide immediate support and access to the extensive resources that are available to all federal crime victims. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a significant partner in the initiative. The private non-profit is a clearinghouse of information and has assisted in more than 400,000 cases of missing kids who were recovered since its founding in 1984.

“Human trafficking is a grave violation of human rights that preys on the most vulnerable members of our society,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in an August 1 announcement of the arrests and recoveries. “The FBI’s actions against this threat never waver as we continue to send our message that these atrocities will not be tolerated.”