During the days when the United States hosted the FIFA World Cup, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took the opportunity to arrest 906 suspected human traffickers and rescue 180 victims, including 30 children.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through several pre-planned operations, the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in collaboration with the DHS Center to Combat Human Trafficking and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, dealt a severe blow to several criminal groups dedicated to human trafficking.
DHS Undersecretary Lauren Bis issued a statement praising the results of the collaborative work.
“While Americans and international visitors enjoyed the FIFA World Cup, the men and women of ICE law enforcement worked hard to dismantle human trafficking networks in FIFA host cities and across the country.
Federal law enforcement arrested more than 900 suspects and rescued nearly 200 victims.
Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, we are dismantling human trafficking networks,” part of the text indicates.
As part of the DHS report it is also mentioned that, during the celebration of the football competition, in the operations carried out by federal agencies more than 700 unauthorized drones were seized, this thanks to the inspection of more than 19,000 vehicles that were headed to stadiums and fan festivals.
To this must be added the blow that was dealt to piracy since hundreds of thousands of counterfeit items related to the World Cup were confiscated, whose value exceeded $33 million dollars.
It should be noted that the alleged human traffickers were placed at the disposal of the police and will be detained until a judge determines their legal status.
At the federal level, this crime carries sentences ranging from 10 years in prison to life imprisonment and, in the cases of foreigners, their subsequent deportation is also included.
