Federal and local authorities rescued over 30 missing children and dismantled several trafficking operations targeting vulnerable youth during a coordinated law enforcement effort across Texas, officials confirmed Monday.
The mission, known as “Operation Lightning Bug,” focused on the San Antonio area and led to multiple arrests, felony warrants, and new investigations.
BREAKING: Texas authorities and U.S. Marshals just conducted “Operation Lightning Bug”
– 6 trafficking survivors rescued
– over 30 missing kids found
– 3 arrests
– 9 felony warrants issuedIf you target vulnerable children, you will be found and arrested! pic.twitter.com/QXd1bkurjX
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The joint effort involved the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) offices in San Antonio, Del Rio, Midland, and Pecos, along with the San Antonio Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit, Special Victims Unit, Street Crimes Unit, and undercover teams.
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Through combined investigative work, teams analyzed national and state crime databases to locate at-risk juveniles and coordinate recovery efforts.
The operation produced the following results:
- Three arrests for harboring runaways
- Nine felony warrants executed
- Six sex trafficking survivors rescued and connected to services
- Five new trafficking investigations opened
- More than 30 missing juveniles located
- More than 120 additional juveniles voluntarily returned home, clearing their names from missing persons databases
Each recovered child was interviewed by the San Antonio Police Department’s Special Victims Unit to determine whether they had been victimized.
Survivors were referred to agencies including Health and Human Services to receive long-term care, counseling, and protection.
U.S. Marshal Susan Pamerleau of the Western District of Texas said in a statement that the operation reflects the Marshals Service’s ongoing commitment to protecting children.
“The safety of our children is the safety of our communities, and justice demands that we protect those who cannot protect themselves,” Pamerleau said.
“Through Operation Lightning Bug, we reaffirm our promise to safeguard the most vulnerable and strengthen the safety of our communities.”
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus also commended the multi-agency effort, emphasizing its results.
“Every suspect arrested, juvenile returned home and survivor taken out of harm’s way matters,” McManus said.
“This operation demonstrates what can be achieved when law enforcement agencies unite to protect children.”
The U.S. Marshals carried out the initiative under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.
That law authorizes the agency to recover missing or endangered children, even when the cases do not involve fugitives.
It also established the USMS Missing Child Unit, which conducts similar operations nationwide to locate and rescue minors in danger.
Kirsta Leeberg-Melton, founder and CEO of the Institute to Combat Trafficking, told Fox News Digital that trafficking remains a widespread problem across Texas and the nation.
“Trafficking is something that the city of San Antonio and the state of Texas and the nation have been grappling with for a considerable period of time,” she said.
Leeberg-Melton explained that traffickers often prey on instability and target children without steady housing, food, or family support.
“They are easy pickings for traffickers to take advantage of,” she said.
“They exploit these needs by offering those items and then calling in debts and putting those kids in a position where they are able to exploit them for sex or for labor.”
She added that public awareness has not kept pace with how the crime has evolved, particularly online.
“Trafficking is the exploitation of men, women and children for forced sex or forced labor by a third party for their profit or gain. That’s been around forever,” Leeberg-Melton said.
“What hasn’t really been around is people’s understanding of that crime and their knowledge that it’s happening everywhere.”
According to Leeberg-Melton, traffickers have increasingly used the internet to reach victims and expand operations.
“As technology advances, traffickers…are early adopters and adapters of technology,” she said.
“The internet allows them to connect with victims and buyers far beyond their local area.”
She also emphasized that human trafficking is not confined to border regions.
“American citizens can traffic American citizens on American soil,” Leeberg-Melton said, noting that most U.S. trafficking cases involve domestic perpetrators and victims.
“The biggest myth is that it happens somewhere else, and it happens to someone else,” she added.
“Until we start recognizing that people have value, no matter who they are, where they come from, what they’ve done or what’s been done to them, we will continue to excuse some level of exploitation.”
Leeberg-Melton also cited “sextortion” as a growing form of trafficking that uses coercion or threats to obtain sexual content.
“When you have someone that you are holding something over their head and then you are asking them for additional photographs or additional sexual conduct with the threat…that is a form, frankly, of human trafficking,” she said.
Authorities said Operation Lightning Bug remains ongoing as investigators continue to pursue new leads generated during the crackdown.
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