In a massive undertaking, the FBI's San Diego field office recently contributed to a nationwide sex-trafficking crackdown, which located hundreds of victims of sex trafficking, including 15 victims in San Diego. The coordinated efforts arrested hundreds of suspects, and sent a powerful message that such atrocities will no longer be tolerated.
The two-week long operation, dubbed Operation Cross Country XIII, resulted in four arrests in San Diego and interventions on behalf of more than a dozen victims, including two minors, as the Times of San Diego noted. As part of a concerted effort to identify and locate victims, and to arrest individuals and disrupt underworld organizations involved in human trafficking and sex crimes that exploit children.
Nationwide, the operation involved almost every FBI field office and led to the rescue of 59 children who had been reported as missing, according to NBC San Diego. Operation Cross Country XIII also resulted in the identification or arrest of more than 125 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Working alongside the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and various state and local law-enforcement agencies, the FBI and other participating forces conducted targeted investigations to dismantle sex trafficking rings and extend vital support to survivors, who were referred for support services, as reported be Times of San Diego.
Operation Cross Country also included an outreach event during which members of the task force engaged with local leaders and law enforcement agencies to raise awareness about human trafficking, providing training on how to recognize signs of the crimes in their communities, and building bridges of cooperation amongst a diverse range of agencies working together to end the scourge of human trafficking.
These agencies included the California Department of Justice, Child Welfare Services, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service, National City Police Department, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Riverside Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, San Diego County District Attorney's Office, San Diego County Sheriff's Department, San Diego Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, San Diego Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of California.
In its 13th year, Operation Cross Country has grown from a 2003 FBI initiative aimed at identifying and recovering sexually exploited minors, now involving federal, state, and local agencies nationwide, and partnering with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The operation not only focuses on breaking down trafficking networks, but also provides essential resources for victims, as noted by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, who suggests that combatting human trafficking remains a priority for law enforcement across the country.
