FBI, This Week: Operation Cross Country XI

Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: An FBI-led nationwide operation focused on underage human trafficking resulted in the recovery of a child as young as 3 months old.

A total of 84 children were recovered during Operation Cross Country XI, and the average age of the victims was 15 years old; 120 alleged traffickers were arrested.

Kristine Morse is part of an FBI Child Exploitation Task Force.

Kristine Morse: What I see are very vulnerable victims. The exploiters are taking advantage of those vulnerabilities for their monetary benefit.

Halpern: The FBI’s Victim Services Division offers victims assistance. Rachel Jacobson…

Rachel Jacobson: FBI victim specialists are on scene working together with law enforcement to provide crisis response to these victims. They conduct in-depth assessments for the victims’ immediate and long-term needs.

Halpern: Operation Cross Country coincided with operations conducted by the FBI’s international partners in five countries. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.