Vicky Arias, FISM News
The FBI, along with numerous local, state, and federal law enforcement offices rescued 37 missing children, 84 child sex trafficking victims, and 141 adult victims of human trafficking across the United States in the first two weeks of August as part of what the agency is calling “Operation Cross Country.”
The FBI partnered with nearly 200 state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies to gather intelligence and arrest persons suspected of involvement in the criminal exploitation of minors. As a result, 85 people were arrested or identified.
FBI Director Christopher Wray explained that,
Human trafficking is among the most heinous crimes the FBI encounters [and] unfortunately, such crimes—against both adults and children—are far more common than most people realize. As we did in this operation, the FBI and our partners will continue to find and arrest traffickers, identify and help victims, and raise awareness of the exploitation of our most vulnerable populations.
The youngest victim was 11-years-old.
Operation Cross Country participants encountered both child victims of sex trafficking and adults who were being trafficked against their will. The effort aims to gather intelligence, build criminal cases against traffickers, and offer victims assistance: https://t.co/NKzg6tnsv9 pic.twitter.com/iryfZzOenZ
— FBI (@FBI) August 15, 2022
The national law enforcement operation has once again brought to light that the atrocity of human trafficking is happening right here in U.S. communities across the nation.
According to a 2020 report from the United Nations, data from the U.S. State Department declared that over 500 people were not only charged but convicted of “federal human trafficking” in 2018 in the United States. According to the same 2018 report, “potential and confirmed” sex trafficking victims totaled 5,885, of which 2,109 were children.
According to Rahab’s Daughters, a Chicago non-profit dedicated to helping trafficking victims, human trafficking “is a form of modern-day slavery [and] is estimated to be a $150 billion-a-year business. Of that, $99 billion comes from sexual exploitation.”
Money and demand are strong motivators for criminals operating in this industry. Michelle DeLaune, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children explained that “children are being bought and sold for sex in communities across the country by traffickers, gangs, and even family members.”
Child Welfare Information Gateway laid out tips to help identify “a young person [who] is [either] at risk or is a victim of human trafficking.” They include the “inability to speak to [an] individual alone, answers [that] appear to be scripted and rehearsed, signs of physical abuse, [and] submissive or fearful [behavior].”
Barbara Amaya, who ran away from home at 12-years-old, was sold in Washington D.C. and trafficked for many years. Amaya explained that although many Americans don’t see human trafficking as “something that [would] happen to [their] family … human trafficking does happen in the United States [and] that child you see online or on the street is not there by choice.”
Sex trafficking is an urgent crisis where our most vulnerable citizens, often children, are being physically and emotionally wounded and suffering unspeakable wickedness. Attention to what they are enduring and action to stop it is crucial.
Scripture tells us in Psalm 82:3-4 to “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
On its website, The U.S. Department of State offers resources for how individuals can help stop human trafficking.