Q&A of the Day – Biden administration aids sex traffickers in Florida – Part 1
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s entry: You mentioned today that President Joe Biden did away with a program that was very effectual against sex trafficking. Can't find the info or stats you mentioned. Can you pass it on or steer me to where I can find the information?
Bottom Line: Sadly, but gladly. Human trafficking is a critically important topic which never seemly receives the attention it deserves. Based on data from the Human Trafficking Hotline, we had over 11,500 known cases of human trafficking in the United States last year. That meant we lost an average of 32 people per day to human trafficking. And be mindful these are just the known cases. In Florida, there were 896 victims, or 2.5 Floridians lost daily to trafficking. It’s stunning and yet it seldom gets reported. Moreover, now the biggest federal resource we had to combat it was taken away from us. Last week I brought you the news that President Biden took executive action to end one of the most effectual initiatives to combat human sex trafficking in the United States, and more specifically within Florida. Here’s a recap from what I shared with you on Friday...
Florida AG Ashley Moody joined 16 other AG’s calling on President Biden to resume ICE operations targeting sex offenders. Dubbed Operation Talon, the ICE initiative to crack down on human trafficking was ended by executive action. Operation Talon is credited with the arrest of 19,700 illegal aliens guilty of criminal sex offenses. According to the state of Florida, citing statistics from the Polaris Project, 77.5% of victims of human trafficking in the US are illegal aliens.
Moody had this to say on Twitter: @POTUS should be part of the solution, not part of the problem, of sex trafficking in this country. That is why I am calling on his administration to immediately reinstate Operation Talon to rid the U.S. of sexual predators here illegally. Here’s a link to the letter sent to President Biden.
Since my initial reporting another state has formerly joined the written request to the Biden administration calling on the reinstatement making 18 states who’ve joined the effort for the reinstatement of Operation Talon. So, what’s the back story with Operation Talon and why in the world would the Biden administration end it? I’ll tackle that in the second part of today’s Q&A.
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