Operation We Will Find You

The following words were on a sign I saw on the inside of a restroom stall at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport….

If you are a victim of human trafficking or sexual assault, use the emergency phone in the restroom for assistance. 

Of course when I went to wash my hands I looked for the phone. It saddened me that there is such a crime and made me hope that victims use that phone.

The words on the sign stayed with me long after my flight had left the airport. As I dug a little into whether victims of human trafficking are being rescued, I found some good and some not so good news.

The good news: In July 2024, the U.S. Marshals working together with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concluded a six-week operation to find missing children. They found 200. It wasn’t their first operation of this kind.

Of the 200 children found, 173 were endangered runaways, 25 were considered otherwise missing, 1 was a family abduction and 1 was a non-family abduction. The youngest child recovered was 5 months old. 14 of the children were found outside the city where they went missing.

The U.S. Marshals Service Director said,

“One of the most sacred missions of the U.S. Marshals Service is locating and recovering our nation’s critically missing children.”

The not so good news: Some children found were missing by choice. They left a foster home or a state-run shelter or an abusive home because life on the street was better than where they lived.

There are plenty more missing children—over 30,000 (per FBI 2022 NCIC Missing Person's Report). A representative from the U.S. Marshals said,

“Whenever a child is missing, whether we cannot explain how they went missing, whether we think it was a family abduction, or whether it’s a runaway, they are at risk of being in danger and at risk of being trafficked, at risk of being hurt, we need to take it very, very seriously.”

Even though this operation focused on Michigan, Florida, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, California, and Oregon, the ‘Hot Spots’ for human trafficking are Phoenix, AZ and Miami, FL. Not to dismiss that it occurs all over the United States (and world).

Source: U.S. Marshal Service, FBI, ABC News

All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.