More than 30 children rescued amid trafficking operation in major US city as expert warns of growing crisis

Federal and local authorities rescued more than 30 missing children and uncovered multiple trafficking operations targeting vulnerable youth during a coordinated crackdown across Texas.

The effort, centered in San Antonio, led to arrests, felony warrants and several new investigations under a joint mission known as "Operation Lightning Bug."

Teams from the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) out of San Antonio, Del Rio, Midland, and Pecos joined forces with San Antonio Police Department's Missing Persons Unit, Special Victims Unit, Street Crimes Unit and covert operatives. Together, they combed through Texas and national crime databases to identify at-risk juveniles and coordinate recovery efforts.

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The results included:

Each recovered child was interviewed by SAPD's Special Victims Unit to determine whether they had been victimized. Survivors were referred to support services provided by agencies such as Health and Human Services to ensure long-term care and protection.

U.S. Marshal Susan Pamerleau, for the Western District of Texas, said in a statement that protecting children remains central to the Marshals Service's mission.

"The safety of our children is the safety of our communities, and justice demands that we protect those who cannot protect themselves," Pamerleau said. "Through Operation Lightning Bug, we reaffirm our promise to safeguard the most vulnerable and strengthen the safety of our communities."

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus echoed those sentiments, praising the effort as an example of law enforcement unity.

"Every suspect arrested, juvenile returned home and survivor taken out of harm's way matters," McManus said. "This operation demonstrates what can be achieved when law enforcement agencies unite to protect children."

The U.S. Marshals conducted the sweep under the authority of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, which empowers the agency to recover missing or endangered children, even when no fugitive is involved. That law also led to the creation of the USMS Missing Child Unit, which leads similar recovery efforts nationwide.

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Kirsta Leeberg-Melton, founder and CEO of the Institute to Combat Trafficking, said operations like this one underscore the larger issue of exploitation in Texas and beyond.

"Trafficking is something that the city of San Antonio and the state of Texas and the nation have been grappling with for a considerable period of time," she said in an interview with Fox News Digital. 

She said traffickers often target instability - children without consistent housing, food or family support.

"They are easy pickings for traffickers to take advantage of," she warned. "They exploit these needs by offering those items and then calling in debts and putting those kids in a position where they are able to exploit them for sex or for labor."

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Leeberg-Melton said the public often underestimates how widespread trafficking is - and how much it has evolved, especially online.

"Trafficking is the exploitation of men, women and children for forced sex or forced labor by a third party for their profit or gain. That's been around forever," Leeberg-Melton said. "What hasn't really been around is people's understanding of that crime and their knowledge that it's happening everywhere!"

She added that traffickers increasingly use technology to recruit and control victims.

"As technology advances, traffickers…are early adopters and adapters of technology," she said. "The internet allows them to connect with victims and buyers far beyond their local area."

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Leeberg-Melton emphasized that trafficking is not limited to border regions.

"American citizens can traffic American citizens on American soil," she said, adding that most trafficking cases prosecuted in the U.S. involve American perpetrators exploiting American victims.

"The biggest myth is that it happens somewhere else, and it happens to someone else," she said. "Until we start recognizing that people have value, no matter who they are, where they come from, what they've done or what's been done to them, we will continue to excuse some level of exploitation."

Leeberg-Melton also described sextortion as a growing form of trafficking that uses coercion to force sexual conduct or imagery.

"When you have someone that you are holding something over their head and then you are asking them for additional photographs or additional sexual conduct with the threat…that is a form, frankly, of human trafficking," she said.

If you suspect someone is a victim of trafficking, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or report anonymously at humantraffickinghotline.org.