The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with law enforcement agencies across the United States and abroad were able to rescue 84 children from the grasps of sex traffickers.
For the eleventh time, the FBI conducted Operation Cross Country, which places agents and task force officers at hotels, casinos, truck stops street corners and online to catch traffickers. The four day operation put 120 child traffickers behind bars from across the U.S., Canada, Cambodia, the United Kingdom, Thailand, and the Philippines.
The FBI Omaha Child Exploitation Task Force recovered two minors and arrested two traffickers as part of operations based out of the Omaha field office.
FBI Director Christopher Wray says the FBI's greatest mission is to protect our nation's children. “Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested—and the number of children recovered—reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work. This operation isn't just about taking traffickers off the street. It's about making sure we offer help and a way out to these young victims who find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of abuse."
The youngest victim recovered during this year’s operation was three months old, with the average age of victims recovered during the operation being fifteen years old. Minors recovered during Cross Country Operations are offered assistance from state protective services and the FBI’s Victim Services Division. Depending on the level of need, victims are offered medical and mental health counseling, as well as a number of other services.
Operation Cross Country XI is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, which began in 2003 and has yielded more than 6,500 child identifications and locations.