Over the course of six weeks, U.S. marshals said they recovered 200 missing or endangered kids. Operation We Will Find You II focused on what marshals call “hot spot cities” for missing kids – particularly Miami, Florida, and Phoenix, Arizona.
The marshals worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to locate children in need of help. They said they rescued 123 children across seven states from dangerous situations, while 77 more were found in safe locations.
Officials said the Phoenix area saw the most children rescued over the course of the operation.
According to the FBI, there were more than 375,000 children reported missing across the U.S. in 2023 alone.
On Monday, July 1, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service said the agency has run the operation six times before this one. He says so far, the operation located 546 children in 2024. While that is a higher number than this time last year, it is significantly lower than the nearly 950 children recovered in 2021.
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