Resources for trafficking victims

National Human Trafficking Hotline:

Call 1-888-373-7888 or text “be free” (233733)

Refuge for Women: 859-254-0041

The Cupcake Girls: 702-879-8195

Rape Crisis Center: 24/7 hotline at 702366-1640

Safenest: 24/7 hotline at 702-6464981 or online chat at www.safenest.org The Shade Tree: 702-385-0072 Salvation Army’s SEEDS of Hope: 702649-8240, Ext. 230 she has seen come through the center are now married, working and have children.

“I’ve been called grandma many times,” she said, laughing. “I’m definitely ‘auntie’ to a lot of the survivors’ children.”

Shaw also urged the public to speak up on behalf of victims, who may be too afraid to ask for help.

Previous operations

Meanwhile, the FBI led similar weeklong sweeps known as Operation Cross Country annually between 2008 and 2017. But this year, the FBI said, field offices across the country were given “a longer time window to plan and execute operations … with the goal being to develop richer leads and intelligence.”

In total, during Operation Cross Country’s nine-year run, the FBI rescued more than 900 child victims and arrested nearly 1,400 more traffickers, according to the bureau.

Details of the operations in Las Vegas were not released. But in Houston, according to special agent Jeanette Milazzo, undercover officers from the Houston Police Department scoured social media for minors advertising sex and set up fake dates in order to identify potential traffickers and victims.

“If we have developed enough rapport with the victim, we build a case against their trafficker and hopefully charge them in federal court,” Milazzo said.

In addition to the child victims rescued last month, the FBI encountered 39 adult trafficking victims. The FBI rescued 14 child sex trafficking victims in Las Vegas in July, the highest total in the U.S. during a nationwide sweep known as Operation Independence Day.

Number of children identified or rescued:

Albuquerque Atlanta Boston Buffalo Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland South Carolina Dallas Detroit Denver Honolulu Houston Jacksonville Kansas City Knoxville

Las Vegas

Little Rock Los Angeles Memphis Miami Milwaukee New Haven New Orleans Portland, Oregon Richmond Sacramento San Antonio San Diego San Francisco Seattle Washington, D.C.