United States Marshals Find 225 Missing Children

In 16 federal judicial districts and regions nationwide, the United States Marshals Service (USMS) coordinated a 10-week nationwide operation that led to the recovery of 225 endangered missing children, including runaways and those kidnapped by non-custodial adults.

The nationwide missing child operation, We Will Find You, focuses on geographical areas with high clusters of critically missing children.

Operation We Will Find You, with technical assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), resulted in the recovery of 169 children and the safe location of 56 children.

The US Marshals Service referred 28 cases to law enforcement agencies for further investigation of crimes such as drug and weapon trafficking, sex trafficking, and sex offender violations during the operation.

In over 40 cases in which the US Marshals Service assisted, law enforcement reported allegations of human trafficking. 86% of the cases closed involved endangered runaways, nearly 9% involved family abductions, and 5% were otherwise missing. The youngest recovered child was six months old.

Furthermore, 62 percent of the missing children were found within seven days of the US Marshals Service assisting with the case.

“The United States Marshals Service is fully committed to the important mission of protecting the American people, particularly our most vulnerable population – our children,” said Ronald Davis, Marshals Service Director.

“The results of this operation underscore that commitment but also highlight the necessity of these critical efforts. Our continued success can only be achieved through our collaboration with state and local law enforcement agencies, and partnership with NCMEC. Together, the USMS and NCMEC have recovered over 3,100 missing children since the passage of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act in 2015.”

“Operation We Will Find You is an excellent example of how the United States Marshals Service prioritizes child protection,” said NCMEC President & CEO Michelle DeLaune.

“NCMEC is proud of our long-standing partnership with the USMS and applauds them, as well as the participating state and local agencies, for their assistance in locating the 225 endangered missing children.”

The operation was carried out from the following locations: eastern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, South Carolina, New Orleans, San Antonio, Detroit, Yakima, Washington, Orlando, Florida, Los Angeles, northern Ohio, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.

During the operation, 42 children were discovered outside the city where they had gone missing, and ten children were found outside the United States in Mexico.

In addition, the USMS apprehended a Top 15 Most Wanted couple who fled to Mexico with their five children from Washington state.

The US Marshals Service saw Operation We Will Find You as an opportunity to expand and highlight partnerships among law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to find critically missing children and bring more attention to America’s missing child epidemic.

Based on indicators of high-risk factors such as victimization of child sex trafficking, child exploitation, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and medical or mental health conditions, these missing children were considered among the most difficult recovery cases in the area. In addition, at the request of law enforcement, other children were located to ensure their safety and to confirm the child’s location.

The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 expanded the authority of the United States Marshals Service to assist law enforcement in recovering endangered missing children, regardless of whether a fugitive or sex offender was involved.

The United States Marshals Service established a Missing Child Unit to oversee and manage the act’s expanded authority.

Members of the United States Marshals Service’s Sex Offender Investigations Branch, Behavioral Analysis Unit, and Missing Child Unit began training personnel in the participating locations months before the operation to ensure case selection, vetting, and all pre-operational requirements were met.