More than 120 missing children were recovered or located during a two-week operation against child exploitation dubbed “Operation Home for the Holidays,” Florida officials said Monday.
In addition, six people were arrested during a sweeping crackdown that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier called the “largest child rescue mission in history” on his X page.
“One hundred twenty-two children and youth are now safe, and that is a victory for our entire state,” Florida Department of Law Enforcement Deputy Commissioner Vaden Pollard said at a press conference in Tampa alongside Uthmeier and representatives from the other state and federal agencies.
“Many of these kids have been victimized in unspeakable ways,” said Uthmeier, who vowed to prosecute “their abusers to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Child predators, stay out of Florida, you are not welcome here,” he said.
The recovered children range in age from 23 months to 17 years old, according to the officials. Most were found in major Florida cities like Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Fort Myers, while some were located in nine other states, the officials said.
U.S. Marshal William Berger, who described the effort as a multiagency, multistate operation, said one of the missing children was found in Mexico and another in Guatemala.
Those arrested, Berger said, were all adults who were hit with charges ranging from “lewd and lascivious to multiple sexual batteries.” He said they expect to make more arrests in the coming weeks.
Uthmeier, a Republican appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is best known nationally for spearheading the construction of a controversial immigrant detention center in the heart of the Everglades that he dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”
