Over 30 Missing Children Rescued During Human Trafficking Operation in Texas

SAN ANTONIO, TX- Under an operation called “Operation Lightning Bug,” federal and local authorities rescued over 30 missing children while uncovering multiple trafficking operations that targeted “vulnerable” youth in a coordinated operation across Texas, Fox News Digital reports. 

The operation led to arrests, felony warrants, and fresh investigations as teams from the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) out of San Antonio, Del Rio, Midland, and Pecos collaborated with the San Antonio Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit, Special Victims Unit, Street Crimes Unit, and covert operatives, Fox News reported. As part of the operation, they investigated Texas and national crime databases to identify at-risk juveniles and to coordinate recovery efforts. 

Among the accomplishments:

• Three arrests for harboring runaways
• Nine felony warrants executed
• Six sex trafficking survivors rescued and connected with support services
• Five new trafficking investigations opened
• More than 30 missing juveniles located
• More than 120 additional juveniles voluntarily returned home, clearing their names from missing persons databases. 

San Antonio PD’s Special Victims Unit interviewed each child to ascertain if they had been victimized. Survivors were referred to support services by various agencies, including Health and Human Services, to ensure long-term care and protection. 

In a written statement, U.S. Marshal Susan Pamerleau for the Western District of Texas noted that protecting children is central to the Marshal 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 Lighting Bug, we affirm our promise to safeguard the most vulnerable and strengthen the safety of our communities.”

San Antonio Police Chief William McManus agreed with Pamerleau’s statements, praising the joint effort. 

“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 sweep was conducted under the auspices of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. That provides authority for the agency to recover missing or endangered children, including when no fugitive is involved. The law led to the creation of the USMS Missing Child Unit, which conducts similar recovery efforts nationwide. 

Operations such as this highlight the scourge of exploitation in Texas and beyond, Kirsta Leeberg-Melton, founder and CEO of the Institute to Combat Trafficking, said. 

“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 told Fox News Digital. 

Traffickers target instability, primarily 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 can exploit them for sex or for labor.” 

“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,” Leesberg-Melton said. “What hasn’t really been around is people’s understanding of that crime and their knowledge that it’s happening everywhere!” 

Traffickers also take advantage of technology to recruit and control victims, she continued. 

“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.” 

She also said that trafficking knows no borders. 

“American citizens can traffic American citizens on American soil, noting that most trafficking cases prosecuted in the United States 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.” 

Sextortion, Leeberg-Melton said, is 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. 

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