OAN’s Roy Francis
8:15 AM – Saturday, May 27, 2023
The United States Marshals Service (USMS), alongside state and local agencies, located 225 missing children while conducting a 10-week operation in states across the country.
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According to the Marhsals Service, the multi-state operation, operation “We Will Find You,” was started with the purpose of locating the missing children, many of whom were runaways or abducted.
Ronald Davis, the Director of the Marshals Service, said that the Marshals are committed to “protecting the American people, especially our most vulnerable.”
“The U.S. Marshals Service is fully committed to the important mission of protecting the American people, especially our most vulnerable population – our children,” Davis said. “The results of this operation underscore that commitment, but also highlight the necessity of these critical efforts.”
According to Fox News, 42 of the located children were found outside of the cities they had gone missing in, 10 were found in Mexico, and 13 in California. The youngest child to be recovered was only six months old.
According to the Marshals Service, “of the cases closed, 86% were endangered runaways, nearly 9% were family abductions, and 5% were considered otherwise missing.”
The operation was conducted in eastern Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina, New Orleans, San Antonio, Detroit, Yakima, Washington, Orlando, Florida, Los Angeles, Northern Ohio, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
During the 10-week operation, the Marshals gave 28 cases to law enforcement for further investigations into crimes which included drugs, weapons, sex trafficking, and sex offender violations.
According to the agency, the children were “considered some of the most challenging recovery cases in the area based on indications of high-risk factors such as victimization of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and medical or mental health conditions.”
Michelle DeLaune, the President and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said that the operation, which was the first nationwide child operation that focused on areas with a high amount of critically missing children, is a “great example” as to how the federal agency “continues to prioritize child protection.”
“‘Operation We Will Find You’ is a great example of how the U.S. Marshals Service continues to prioritize child protection,” she said.
During the operation, the U.S. Marshals also arrested a “Top 15 Most Wanted” couple who had fled to Mexico with their five children that they had also taken into hiding with them.
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