Showing posts with label Missing Children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missing Children. Show all posts

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Underage Sex Trafficking Crackdown Leads to Recovery of 84 Minors

Washington, D.C. - October 19, 2017 (The Ponder News) -- The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), announced that 84 minors were recovered and 120 traffickers were arrested as part of Operation Cross Country XI, a nationwide effort focusing on underage human trafficking that ran from October 12-15, 2017.

The FBI Omaha Child Exploitation Task Force recovered two minors and arrested two traffickers as part of operations based out of the Omaha field office.

This is the 11th iteration of the FBI-led Operation Cross Country (OCC), which took place this year in 55 FBI field offices and involved 78 state and local task forces, consisting of hundreds of law enforcement partners. This year’s coordinated operations took place with several international partners, including Canada (Operation Northern Spotlight), the United Kingdom (Aident 8), Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

“We at the FBI have no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm. Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested—and the number of children recovered—reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “This operation isn't just about taking traffickers off the street. It’s about making sure we offer help and a way out to these young victims who find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of abuse.”

The 11th iteration of Operation Cross Country, the FBI’s annual law enforcement action focused on recovering underage victims of prostitution, concluded with the recovery of 84 sexually exploited juveniles.

As part of Operation Cross Country XI, FBI agents and task force officers staged operations in hotels, casinos, and truck stops, as well as on street corners and Internet websites. The youngest victim recovered during this year’s operation was 3 months old, and the average age of victims recovered during the operation was 15 years old. Minors recovered during Cross Country Operations are offered assistance from state protective services and the FBI’s Victim Services Division. Depending on the level of need, victims are offered medical and mental health counseling, as well as a number of other services.

“Child sex trafficking is happening in every community across America, and at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, we’re working to combat this problem every day,” said NCMEC President and CEO John Clark. “We’re proud to work with the FBI on Operation Cross Country to help find and recover child victims. We hope OCC generates more awareness about this crisis impacting our nation’s children.”

Operation Cross Country XI is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, which began in 2003 and has yielded more than 6,500 child identifications and locations. For additional information on Operation Cross Country XI and the Innocence Lost initiative, please visit www.fbi.gov.

The FBI Omaha Division would like to thank the many agencies who assisted in this successful operation, including the Omaha Police Department (SOVS Unit), Council Bluffs Police Department, Douglas County Sheriff's Office, LaVista Police Department, Lincoln Police Department, Nebraska State Patrol, Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office, Mills County Sheriff's Office, Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation, and the Iowa Department of Narcotics Enforcement.

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Friday, June 2, 2017

Impeachment, Paris Accord, Detention Centers, Missing Children, Immigrants, Military, BPA, Healthcare

Congressman Al Green Thanks Supporters and Colleagues After Trump Impeachment Statement
Al Green (D-TX, 9th)
May 24, 2017

“I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to the many people who have approached me, called and left positive messages with my office, as well as supportive sentiments on social media. While many of these communications were received from Americans who do not support the impeachment of the President, they also do not support threatening anyone with lynching.
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Congressman Gene Green Responds to the Withdrawal of the United States in Paris Climate Agreement
Gene Green (D-TX, 29th)
June 1, 2017

“The fight against climate change is an international priority supported by 195 countries,” said Green. “Until today, the United States has been leading the international community to reduce carbon emissions and protecting our planet for future generations. Thanks to innovation, investment, and smart policies, our nation’s carbon emissions have already declined by 11 percent since 2005. President Trump’s announcement to withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, regretfully, will hand international leadership on climate change to China and other nations who do not share our priorities."
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Griffith Statement on US Withdrawal from Paris Accord
Morgan Griffith (R-VA, 9th)
June 1, 2017

“The Paris Climate Accord is a bad deal for Americans, as I’ve been saying since the deal was announced. The United States can be the world leader in energy innovation; this symbolic, expensive, and poorly negotiated deal doesn’t change that. The United States is ALREADY a clean energy and fossil fuel energy leader; we can reduce our emissions and continue to produce American energy without the Paris Accord. America has already reduced its carbon-dioxide emissions dramatically, beginning before the Accord.”
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REPRESENTATIVE HANABUSA CRITICAL OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S DECISION TO WITHDRAW FROM THE PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD

The Paris Accord is a Bad Deal for the American People

Hastings’ Statement on President Trump’s Intention to Pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement

Congressman Denny Heck reacts to announcement that United States will abandon Paris Climate Agreement

Himes statement on Trump abandoning Paris Climate Agreement

Grijalva Responds to Failed Texas Bill That Designated Private Prisons as "Child Care Facilities"
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ, 3rd)
June 02, 2017

Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) released the following statement after a Texas bill that would have permitted state officials to license family detention centers as “child care facilities” failed to pass the Texas Legislature. The law would have subjected private detention centers to weaker regulations and allowed them to increase their profit margins by holding women and children, whom they receive higher per diem rates for, in detention for longer periods of time. The bill’s defeat comes after hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in lobbying efforts by the private prison industry.
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House Unanimously Passes Guthrie Bill to Protect Missing and Exploited Children
Brett S. Guthrie (R-KY, 2nd)
May 23, 2017

“As a father, I cannot imagine the horror moms and dads in this country experience when they discover one of their children has been taken, abused, or exploited,” said Guthrie. “Sadly, that’s a nightmare hundreds of thousands of parents in this country face. Last year alone, there were more than 465,000 reports of missing children — and those were just the cases that were reported. I was proud to introduce the Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act to ensure that we take care of these children. I look forward to seeing this important piece of legislation signed into law.”
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AGRICULTURAL WORKER PROGRAM ACT (H.R. 2690) INTRODUCED IN HOUSE WITH STRONG SUPPORT
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL, 4th)
May 25, 2017

Rep. Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) and 29 of his House Democratic colleagues introduced the Agricultural Worker Program Act (AWPA, H.R. 2690), a bill to legalize the immigration status of farm workers working in American agriculture. The bill would create a program that would allow agricultural workers and their families to apply for a “Blue Card” that gives them legal status and work authorization if they show consistent employment in U.S. agriculture over the past two years, pay a fine, and pass a thorough background check. A 3- to 5- year path to citizenship is provided to those who continue to work in agriculture for the requisite amount of time. The bill is the House companion to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s bill, S. 1034, introduced earlier this month, which currently has seven Senate co-sponsors.
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Hartzler Sees Progress in White House Decision to Delegate Force Management Levels to Secretary Mattis
Vicky Hartzler (R-MO, 4th)
May 26, 2017

“President Trump’s decision to provide Secretary Mattis authority over troop caps in both Iraq and Syria signals a desire to reform the process and represents a new approach to improving military readiness,” said Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, Chairwoman of the House Armed Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. “It is my hope that Secretary Mattis will address the misguided practices of using troop caps as a political tool. This allows commanders to build a coherent strategy and request forces to support that strategy—instead of the other way around,” added Hartzler.
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U.S. Rep. Herrera Beutler Opposes President’s Proposal to Sell BPA’s Assets
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA, 3rd)
May 24, 2017

“The President’s proposal to sell off the Bonneville Power Administration’s assets in his budget released today is a non-starter for residents and employers throughout the entire Northwest. For decades, ratepayers have made financial investments in and had say over hydropower infrastructure that provides our region with the cleanest, most affordable and most reliable energy in the nation. That opportunity has been afforded by the unique and sustainable model made possible by the BPA. If this were sold off to a private bidder, residents would most certainly face higher monthly energy bills and the needs of rural communities would likely be overlooked. Rather than selling off this self-financed asset for a one-time ‘credit card’ payment to the U.S. Treasury, I would encourage this Administration to emulate the BPA’s model in other regions of the country.
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Higgins: Enough Talk About Dismantling Health Care in America, Let’s Get to Work Providing the Health Care Americans Deserve
Brian Higgins (D-NY, 26th)
Jun 2, 2017

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-26) says it is time for the conversation about healthcare in American to shift, from one that tears down healthcare to one that builds it up. Higgins, who serves as a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means which has jurisdiction over healthcare legislation, outlined ways Western New York is leading the way in innovative delivery and said expanding on policies that work, including Medicare, could be the future of healthcare.
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Higgins Introduces Bills to Reauthorize U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services
Clay Higgins (R-LA, 3rd)
May 30, 2017

“ICE and USCIS perform critical missions with the Department of Homeland Security, to secure America’s borders and protect our homeland,” said Rep. Higgins. “The threats facing American families are rapidly evolving. It’s common sense that we should provide these DHS agencies with the necessary guidance and structure to adapt their mission and use resources more efficiently as they work to keep Americans safe.”
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