122 Missing Children Located Across Florida, FBI Says

Operation Home for the Holidays was headed by the U.S. Marshals Service alongside other federal agencies and local law enforcement.

FBI agents, in a file photo. Courtesy of the FBI

The FBI and Florida officials announced on Monday that at least 122 missing children were located or recovered across Florida, including some who were reportedly abused. More missing children were also found in nine other states.

The children range in age from 23 months to 17 years old, the agency’s Jacksonville office said in a statement released on X, which was re-posted by FBI Director Kash Patel.

Some of those children had “disclosed experiences relating to various types of abuse and proximity to other criminal activity,” the FBI Jacksonville office said.

Operation Home for the Holidays was headed by the U.S. Marshals Service alongside other federal agencies and local law enforcement, according to FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley in a video.

During a news conference and in a press release issued by the Florida attorney general’s office, officials said that the operation mainly was conducted across Central Florida to locate missing children, including 57  in Tampa, 29 in Fort Meyers, 22 in Jacksonville, and 14 in Orlando. Another 13 children were found in other states and worldwide, officials added.

“Thanks to one of the single largest child-rescue operations in U.S. history, 122 missing children are safe,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a statement. “This operation highlights the strength and diligence of Florida’s Law Enforcement.

“I am deeply grateful for everyone that made Operation Home for the Holidays a massive success. Many of these kids have been victimized in unspeakable ways. We will prosecute their abusers to the fullest extent of the law.”

His office said that Operation Home for the Holidays primarily was focused on allowing children to gain access to services with the assistance of child welfare officials and victim advocates, according to the press release.

The office is also working to bring felony cases, including sexual battery of a child and custodial interference, the release said.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS)  said that it helped locate 60 “critically missing” children in Florida as part of a separate statewide operation known as Operation Dragon Eye. That effort was launched in Hillsborough, Pasco, and Pinellas counties, the agency said in a June announcement.

At the time, eight people were arrested on child endangerment, narcotics possession, custodial interference, and human trafficking charges, the agency said.

The USMS defines “critically missing” children as “those at risk of crimes of violence or those with other elevated risk factors such as substance abuse, sexual exploitation, crime exposure, or domestic violence.”

Overall, nearly 30,000 children were reported missing in 2024, said the FBI, citing data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The center is a child protection organization that sometimes works with federal law enforcement agencies. Around 90 percent of cases in 2024 were resolved, the FBI said in a report in September.

In late October, the FBI also said that 10 missing children and youth were recovered in Hawaii. Local officials said the ages ranged from 13 to 18.

Last month,  Patel said during a White House event alongside President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi that 5,400 children have been rescued by federal officials so far this year, while 28,000 violent criminals have been arrested across multiple operations in the United States.