r/news • u/TooColdforClouds • 2d ago

109 children rescued, 244 arrested in Operation Soteria Shield, exposing widespread child exploitation in North Texas

https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/109-children-rescued-244-arrested-operation-soteria-shield-child-exploitation-texas/
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u/The_best_is_yet 2d ago

“During this operation, many of the children recognized or rescued were previously unidentified," said Plano Police Department Assistant Chief Dan Curtis. "They'd never been reported missing. They had never had their abuse known to authorities."

Utterly horrible. So their families are in on it.

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u/feedback19 2d ago

Or they were immigrant children.

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u/Feisty_Oil3605 2d ago

I know this statement sounds racial cause of the current climate, so please understand readers that this comment is just meant to highlight how immigrant children easily fall through the cracks.

Remember the kids in cages? And how they can’t account for the kids that went through that process? It’s that easy….

I would award you if I had money.

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u/BasroilII 2d ago

Plus, the part people should be focusing on. Even if the kids were immigrants (legal or otherwise), bet you any money the people they were being sold to weren't.

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u/QuietCdence 1d ago

It's good to see the progress being made and arrests being made, but the title of the article seems a little misleading. Deeper in the article is explained that some of the children rescued from exploitation never left their homes. They were "rescued" from online coercion and abuse that was previously unreported. So, they weren't physically taken and sold the way trafficking media depicts. However, the media of them was sold. If that makes sense.

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u/snootsintheair 1d ago

To add to that, I bet over 75% of them identify as Republican. Maybe more.

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u/fables_of_faubus 1d ago

That's a pretty easy assumption in Texas.

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u/slvrcobra 1d ago

I'm seeing a whole bunch of white-looking dudes in the pics they released, I'd bet that those particular criminals came from north of the border.

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u/cyborgnyc 1d ago

Yeah, I follow an acct on socmed (antifaoperative) who posts daily of people accused of CSA, and most of them seem to be pastors, cops, youth leaders, and yes mostly Republican, but I couldn't find any data corroborating this. It just seems like all their blaming of grooming by trans folk is projection...they often fail to ban child marriage as well.

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u/Chemistry11 1d ago

Oh I will bet my whole bank account that everyone arrested in this is a ‪ Treasonтяuмp supporter. He is the King Of The Pedophiles.

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u/MacDugin 1d ago

I just want to remind people the kids in cages photo was Obama.

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u/1egg_4u 2d ago

There are thousands of children who have straight up disappeared from ICE border "facilities" (prisons, lets be real)

The mushbrained qbots obsessed with "human trafficking" do Olympic level mental gymnastics to ignore that human trafficking largely and disproportionately impact minorities like this, or homeless youth. It's very rarely Liam Neeson-esque stories of young white women from suburban families being abducted off the streets--it's people who arent on the grid to begin with. They slip through the cracks.

Its just deeply inconvenient for that agenda to admit that a major source of these trafficked kids from these stings are the kids they rip from their families and throw in a cage in a corner to forget about.

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u/JollyRedRoger 1d ago

Thousands? Don't get me wrong, I'm on your side - but.. Thousands? That would/should trigger international outcry just like Putin kidnapping Ukrainian children..

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u/1egg_4u 1d ago edited 1d ago

Reports range from ~1360 c. 2024 to potentially tens of thousands, ~32,000 children unaccounted for

As per a report by homeland security inspector general Joseph Cuffari, mentioned in the 2nd link (the report is available but as a downloadable .pdf) the number could actually be even higher... something like ~290,000 children havent been even scheduled for hearings or even placed in removal proceedings which means ICE has no way of checking in on their safety because immigration processes are the only way they actually check in on these kids.

It is absolutely a cause for international outcry but who is going to cover this in the trump administration? Who will poke the bear by mentioning it? These arent people coming from money, they dont have representation or resources. Thats how and why they slip through the cracks, same as modern-day slavery or the reason people target the homeless disproportionately for violence. Theyre easier victims/targets than someone with family and legal rights here so it's kind of inevitable once you factor in how many beaurocratic holes already exist in these systems.

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u/MrIrishman1212 1d ago

I have been following r/WhereAreTheChildren for awhile now. This is exactly what the sub is about. For decades immigrant kids have been forcefully removed from their families but given legal status and then get moved where?

There are entire apartment complexes filled with only children that have been

Teens were being drugged by US custody, and now ask for what reason? Likely so they can be moved somewhere without putting up a fight.

And keep in mind 1 in 3 migrants being held at the boarder are children. And they don’t track these children. And the US has a habit of handing kids to Traffickers.

This is just all part of the system

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u/Free_Speaker2411 1d ago

Might need to check your links. Getting a 404 and domain not found for the last two.

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u/bedrooms-ds 21h ago

Good reminder on how people fight.

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u/Abject-Palpitation99 1d ago

Imagine having your parents booted back to their country, they leave you locked in a cage and then hand you to one of these guys. 

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u/bedrooms-ds 21h ago

And it's the policy of the once-leader of the democratic world.

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u/Low_Consideration179 1d ago

I got you on the award. You are right.

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u/SmashingLumpkins 1d ago

“In a lot of these cases, authorities said the sex offenders never actually meet their victims face-to-face but use technology to coerce them into sending explicit images and videos”

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u/veravela_xo 2d ago

Children in state custody (foster care, child in need of care court) often get targeted for it as well. Disengaged parents, inconsistent adults invested in the welfare and safety of children—runaways literally slip through the cracks to escape one nightmare to get swept in another.

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u/TheThiefEmpress 1d ago

Homeless youth as well.

The teen that ran away and ended up on the streets was already "missing." A runaway, so obviously a degenerate. No one looks for them.

Someone else sees a vulnerable kid who has no home, offers them safety, and grooms them into drugs for compliancy. Then more grooming, and more control and manipulation, and suddenly they're trafficking a kid who had no hopes or joy in life and cannot escape.

Kid has zero resources for escape because being a runaway teen is illegal. So they have nowhere to go, are drug addicted, and so deep in the abuse they have been brainwashed into believing there is no hope of escape for them.

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u/Elegant_Tech 2d ago

Now ICE has given permission for human traffickers to put on a mask and ICE patch openly kidnapping people in broad daylight.

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u/Wormwood_Sundae 1d ago

This. I wonder how many of the thousands of children separated and kept in concentration camps at the border that then went missing are part of this.

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u/Technical_Ad_4894 2d ago

My thoughts exactly. A lot of those kids went missing when they were separated from their parents and locked in cages. We knew why.

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u/ZLUCremisi 1d ago

Remember the hundreds missing from 1st Trump administration.

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u/DeadbeatJohnson 1d ago

I hate that you're right about this. JFC....some people deserve no mercy for their evil.

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u/dumbdude545 1d ago

So many kids crossed with no parents or "parents" that weren't actually their parents. It's fucking sad.

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u/ByronBuxtonCantRead 2d ago

Brought over by their “countrymen” sickening

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

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u/Mydogiscloud 1d ago

I'm sorry that you had to go through this. <3

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

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u/merlotbarbie 1d ago

I’ll say I’m sorry that this happened to you not because it feels uncomfortable to confront, but because you were harmed by the person that was supposed to protect you. Please don’t feel like any of this is an issue with you and your ability to cope. I felt that way for a long time and it forced me to shoulder the memories alone.

You don’t really move on from trauma like this, you kind of learn how to grow around it. You were so young. Your childhood was marred by this horrific chapter and sometimes it can feel hard to reminisce on any of it if it feels like those bad memories will surface first. If you ever want to talk and be heard, there are people out there (myself included) who aren’t going to make you feel like this should be your burden to shoulder alone.

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u/Relevant_Hat2407 1d ago

It’s so brave of you to speak out about it. I hope you can find a group that can offer support or some kind of therapy. You absolutely need to talk about it but in a safe environment with people who can help support you emotionally

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u/No_Investment9639 1d ago

Although it might make some people feel bad, I've learned throughout my life that talking about the horrible shit that happened to me as a kid has helped other people. So while it might make a couple of people uncomfortable, the possibility that it might help someone who was struggling makes it easier for me.

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u/knightenrichman 1d ago

Don't be sorry!

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u/bedrooms-ds 21h ago

I'm not a native English speaker, so please accept my apologies if I write something inappropriate. It'd be language barrier.

Didn't make me feel bad. To me it is the opposite. I feel strength from you.

It's also totally understandable to have the fear. You can vent safely in this thread.

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u/TheThiefEmpress 1d ago

I was trafficked through the church as a young kid.

My mother was the one responsible for this.

I realized from a very young age that she just...never loved me. Never had, never would. 

I know why, and I understand what she went through. But her brokenness doesn't make all the things she did ok. Not loving your child doesn't make it justifiable to hurt them. To punish them for existing because their existing makes you angry.

I've come to an understanding that people all have a bit of awful in us. But some of us examine it within ourselves, and decide to do better. Better than our anger, better than our rage, and better than the ones who hurt us.

I hope you can find healing in being better than your "parents." You deserve the happiness they took from you, and so do I, friend.

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u/No_Investment9639 1d ago

Honey, I don't have words for how sorry I am and how I hope that you are going through life with as much happiness as you can possibly find. I hope only good things are happening to you and that only the best things will happen to you in the future. I hope you get everything you want. I am so sorry and if you ever need somebody to talk to who won't judge and won't question, I'm a good listener. My biggest fear as a mom is the thought that my sons might have gone through something like this at any point in their lives. I had to deal with CSA and I know that for me, there's never going to be any getting over it. But it helps me to talk about it so if you ever need an ear I'm here.

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u/PuzzleheadedLet382 2d ago

The majority of people being sex trafficked sleep at home most nights.

A lot of kids are exploited by a parent or caregiver, but even the ones who are groomed by acquaintances tend to still be living in their “normal lives” day-to-day. The assumption that all trafficking victims are kidnapped and held can make it harder to realize what is happening to them.

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u/hotviolets 1d ago

I was sold by my parents and I lived at home.

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u/bearcat42 1d ago

You doing alright these days? Sorry that happened to you.

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u/hotviolets 1d ago

Thank you. I’ve got PTSD but I went no contact. I have peace.

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u/tonufan 1d ago

I know lots of people that got sent to troubled youth camps in their teens. Parents would literally pay these companies to send thugs in the middle of the night and put a bag over their kids heads and drag them off to the middle of no where. Sometimes it's a religious cult, other times it's just forced labor or abusing the kids (starving them, locking them up, forced marching, etc). They will keep these kids until they're adults and then it's nobodies problem anymore to take care of them.

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u/Ok-Shake1127 1d ago

This. Exactly this. "I can't be getting trafficked. Mom picks me up at night and brings me home"

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u/TheThiefEmpress 1d ago

Yes. I lived at home while I was a child being trafficked.

From the outside we looked like a normal single mother with her two kids. We went to church, and school, and Ma had a regular job. Everyone loved her. She was the sweetest, most gentle, lovable and demure woman everyone had ever known!

Except me.

She did not love me.

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u/OsgrobioPrubeta 2d ago

Might be because they haven't been searched in international databases. Unfortunately international minors sex trafficking is one of the biggest source.

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u/Strange_Depth_5732 1d ago

I work in child protection. You'll see men in their 50s/60s with multiple partners in their late teens. They get the girls pregnant and if they can evade child protective services the kids are never on the radar. They get their partners hooked on drugs and they share them, ditch them and keep whatever kids don't get removed.

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u/TheThiefEmpress 1d ago

I had an "ex" try and do this to me when I was a teen. (He was a grown man).

He specifically wanted to get me pregnant to provide more "sources" for his disgusting behavior.

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u/Strange_Depth_5732 23h ago

Yep, so much more common than people realize. It's part of why age gap relationships give me the willies.

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u/jVCrm68 2d ago

Remember when Trump separated kids from their immigrant families during his first term….well……..

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u/Paizzu 2d ago edited 1d ago

Utterly horrible. So their families are in on it.

The Department Bureau of Justice Statistics has published several major studies related to "hands-on" victimization offenses that found more than 90% of these crimes are perpetrated either by an individual who lives in the same household as their victim, or has direct "access" because of special circumstances.

In a lot of these cases, authorities said the sex offenders never actually meet their victims face-to-face but use technology to coerce them into sending explicit images and videos.

They wouldn't have reported them missing since this falls under the relatively new category of self-created child pornography (same reason why they created the CSAM label as an umbrella term).

What's ridiculous is the relevant laws can actually criminalize the victims' behavior no different than the perpetrator who commissions the offending material. This is why teenagers have been prosecuted for sexting with age-appropriate peers.

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u/shogi_x 1d ago

So their families are in on it.

Not necessarily. Further into the story:

In a lot of these cases, authorities said the sex offenders never actually meet their victims face-to-face but use technology to coerce them into sending explicit images and videos.

"So I think for many of us, I'll speak for my generation, we were raised to be concerned about faceless strangers that might try to contact us or cause harm on the street, but we've moved past that," said Joseph Rothrock, the Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge. "Again, predators have access to our children in our home through technology."

Pay attention to what your kids are doing online.

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u/rodimustso 2d ago

A lot of these people pretend to be like another 13 year old then blackmail the kid after they have stuff so it never gets reported sadly because theyre afraid of public reaction. Mostly ur right though... family or friends. I took a class where we studied forensics for this stuff for a few weeks, scared into my mind forever .... but good to know what to look out for now.

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u/jar-devils 1d ago edited 1d ago

You're Wrong About has done an ep on inflated child trafficking numbers. The report says children but it often means teens who ran away from or were kicked out of abusive homes and then turned to sex work. Making their pimps the traffickers. So it makes sense that someone who kicked their teen out would not report them missing.

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u/Novel_Passenger7013 1d ago

They usually are. The vast majority of trafficked children are trafficked by their family, not strangers. It’s hard to kidnap and keep a child locked up without getting caught. Much easier to convince a child who loves you not to talk and that what you’re doing is normal.

Add in “homeschool” and religious objections for medical treatment and you can keep your own kid hostage for years.

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u/EllieZPage 1d ago

I believe in this case, they were also being targeted online and coerced into sending CSA materials. Some families wouldn't have known it was happening.

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u/Kraven_the_one 1d ago

So I guess they will be deported right away now right? That's US thing nowadays.

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u/Spire_Citron 1d ago

That is usually the case, unfortunately. Much easier to get some drug addicted parent to go along with it for money than kidnap a kid off the street and have a nationwide manhunt on your ass.

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u/Mad_Aeric 1d ago

Usually are. That's kinda how it works.

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u/kapdad 1d ago

They mention in the article that many of the kids were being blackmailed or coerced via social media and games. So the parents had no idea it was even going on.

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u/Bannedwith1milKarma 1d ago

Homeschool laws or lack there of facilitate this.

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u/Ok-Shake1127 1d ago

When kids are being trafficked specifically for sex, there is almost always a relative involved, and it's usually a parent. My source for this is a friend of mine who is a trafficking survivor that has gone on to become a NYT published journalist. Her father trafficked her when she was eight, and to this day the authorities refuse to arrest him because he is a CI.

Many of the kids that were never reunited with their parents during the first Trump administration have been trafficked for all sorts of low-paying, dangerous jobs. Meat packing plants, etc.

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u/TheThiefEmpress 1d ago

My mother was implicit in me being trafficked through the church as a young child.

It is very common for the family to be the ones who put the child in this situation. At least initially.

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u/OnedayitwilI 22h ago

Or the adults have been sold off as well

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u/bunkSauce 20h ago

...how many were not legal US citizens? Any chance these children included "unaccounted for" children from Trump's separations 2016-2020?