TAG / RESCUE OPERATION

With arrests made and new investigations launched, the San Antonio-led effort demonstrates what can be achieved by agency coordination—but experts warn enforcement alone won’t end trafficking.

Three new laws took effect on October 1 in the Sunshine State, imposing harsher penalties for trafficking minors, luring children and distributing nonconsensual sexual content.

Undercover operatives work tirelessly to break up forced labor and sex trafficking networks, confronting “things that cannot be unseen.”

Couple trafficked Thai women to Scotland, burdened them with huge debt and forced them into prostitution to “pay it back.” The perpetrators face years in prison. 

Operation Liberterra II rescued 3,222 potential human trafficking victims and netted 2,517 arrests as a result of monitoring nearly 24,000 flights.