Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has rescued 54 human trafficking victims in Atlanta as part of Operation Red Card, which was conducted with federal, state, and local agencies during the World Cup in June and July.
According to a July 21 announcement, Homeland Security Investigations Atlanta “will continue rescuing trafficking victims, hunting human traffickers down, and bringing predators to JUSTICE.”
“There is NO safe haven for traffickers and predators,” the agency said when announcing the arrests.
Overall, more than 150 individuals connected to human trafficking and child exploitation have been arrested within the past month in metro Atlanta.
None of those arrested was an international visitor in town for the World Cup games. Fourteen of those arrested were in the United States illegally.
“Our message is clear: Atlanta is not a safe place for traffickers and predators,” said Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of HSI Atlanta. “We will find them and bring them to justice.”
“Operation Red Card sent a clear message: Those who exploit the vulnerable will be found and brought to justice. The safety of our children and communities is non-negotiable,” Schrank said during a briefing with local media. “These arrests and rescues are more than numbers. They represent lives changed, exploitation stopped, and our community made safer.”
Georgia Bureau of Investigations Director Chris Hosey said the mission to stop human trafficking needs to continue, as does cooperation between state and federal law enforcement.
“These crimes target some of the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society and our citizens here in Georgia,” Hosey said.
“They’re hidden. They’re hidden and they are silent and often not detected until it’s too late, or the innocence has been taken away from that victim.”
This news comes about a week after five arrests were made, including three illegal immigrants, in Middle Tennessee for human trafficking.
The people identified as possible victims were offered help through a local human trafficking victim service organization.
Eight missing children were rescued in Kansas City, Missouri, following a human trafficking operation conducted during the FIFA World Cup, according to a July 13 press release from the Department of Homeland Security.
DHS said that federal agents partnered with local law enforcement in an operation aimed at getting “heinous criminals off Missouri streets.”
“When we work together, our communities and the American people are safer,” the agency said in a post on X, sharing a Fox News interview in which Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe talked about the operation, in which five people from Guatemala and Mexico were arrested.
Worldwide, more than 50 million people are trapped in both sex- and labor-related human trafficking in what is estimated to be a $150 billion industry, according to Future Voices, an anti-trafficking group.
