According to the FBI, American law enforcement agencies have saved more than 200 victims of human trafficking nationwide. These numbers include 84 children who were trafficked for sex.
“Operation Cross Country” was a two-week nationwide operation conducted in August that resulted in the recovery of 141 adult victims of human trafficking, 84 juvenile victims of sexual exploitation and trafficking in children, and the identification of 37 missing minors. Law enforcement officials say that 85 people were charged with human trafficking and child sexual exploitation as a result of nearly 400 sting operations.
The youngest victim found was 11 years old. The average typical age of victims in these types of operations is around 15.
“Human trafficking is among the most heinous crimes the FBI encounters,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “Unfortunately, such crimes—against both adults and children—are far more common than most people realize.”
“Operation Cross Country” was the most recent of a dozen FBI-led initiatives to rescue victims of human trafficking. Their goal is to look into the perpetrators’ identities and illegal enterprises.
85 persons were arrested for offenses including child sexual exploitation and human trafficking during Operation Cross Country. The operation encompassed 391 actions over a period of two weeks. The operation’s teams worked with 200 local, state, and federal partners and include FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, victim specialists, and child and adolescent forensic interviewers.
Experts assist survivors in obtaining services according to their particular needs, such as crisis intervention and minimal needs for survival.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children partnered in the operation and asserted that the success of the children’s rescue verifies what it sees every day.
The organization said in a statement that “children are being purchased and sold for sex in communities across the country by traffickers, gangs, and even family members,”
“We’re proud to support the FBI’s efforts to prioritize the safety of children. This national operation highlights the need for all child-serving professionals to continue to focus on the wellbeing of children and youth to prevent them from being targeted in the first place.”
The majority of missing and minor cases reported to the nonprofit organization each year is comprised of mainly runaways according to data gathered by the NCMEC. The organization collaborates with families, parents, and law enforcement organizations and has worked on 27,733 incidents of missing children in 2021 alone.
The NCMEC also discovered that 19% of the kids who flee from social services are most likely to end up as victims of human trafficking.
Watch it here: Youtube/FBI
Sources: Dailywire, Axios, Foxnews
