The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) located 200 missing children, including sex trafficking victims, abused children, and runaways during a six-week nationwide operation, as announced by the Department of Justice on July 1.
USMS Director Ronald Davis emphasized the importance of finding and rescuing critically missing children, stating that it remains a top priority due to the thousands of children still at risk.
Among the children found, 173 were endangered runaways, one was a victim of family abduction, another of non-family abduction, and 25 were classified as otherwise missing. The youngest child found was a five-month-old baby.
Operation We Will Find You 2 was a collaborative effort involving federal, state, and local agencies, along with technical support from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The operation focused on areas with high concentrations of critically missing children and was conducted in various districts across the country.
One notable case in the Eastern District of North Carolina involved the safe recovery of a one-year-old child whose mother, previously convicted of killing her four-year-old son, had failed to surrender the child to social services.
Another case in Portland, Oregon, saw the rescue of a 12-year-old girl who reported being sexually abused by family members. Law enforcement intervened when the girl’s father attempted to force her into his car.
Additionally, a 16-year-old girl who had been a victim of sex trafficking was found in Flint, Michigan, and taken into custody for a probation violation. Investigations into suspected trafficking cases are ongoing.
In New York, a 16-year-old girl who had been previously trafficked was rescued after two arrest warrants were executed for a 27-year-old man involved in the case.
The success of Operation We Will Find You was praised by NCMEC’s President and CEO Michelle DeLaune, highlighting the importance of protecting vulnerable children and ensuring their safety. Can you please rewrite this sentence?
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