Confronting The Crisis Of Child Exploitation In America: Why We Must Act Now

The Daily Wire is releasing an important new documentary today. In association with Our Rescue, “Hiding in Plain Sight” takes you inside the shocking world of digital predators who use everyday apps to hunt, groom, and traffic children from their own bedrooms — at a scale law enforcement has never seen before.

Few people know that better than Derek Benner, CEO of Our Rescue. Benner helped lead the creation of the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking, the nation’s first unified task force dedicated to ending modern slavery.

As Benner points out, the crisis is closer than we think. — The Daily Wire

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One of the most common questions I get as the CEO of Our Rescue is: “Does child exploitation and sex trafficking really happen here?”

I often reply, if you ask any law enforcement officer working sex trafficking and child exploitation cases, they’ll tell you the same thing: “The biggest mistake people make is thinking this crime doesn’t happen at home, in our communities, in the United States. It does. And it’s everywhere.”

Worldwide, there are nearly 50 million people trapped in modern slavery, according to the International Labor Organization. In 2024, the Global Tips Report showed that the number of children being trafficked had increased 31% in 2022 compared to 2019, with a 38% rise recorded for girls. Before I joined Our Rescue, I spent my career at Homeland Security Investigations — leading complex efforts to combat human trafficking and child exploitation and spearheading the creation of the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking, the first unified, inter-agency coordination center dedicated to combating trafficking in all forms. And I can tell you, everyday law enforcement officers uncover cases of children and adults being groomed, recruited, coerced, or even sold in our own communities. The victims are not just statistics; they are neighbors, classmates, and children whose lives are being stolen in plain sight.

But beyond these trafficking cases, another fast-growing threat is here in the U.S. — the online sexual exploitation of children. Technology has opened new frontiers for predators and organized criminal groups, making it easier than ever to target American kids in their own homes.

The scale of child sexual exploitation in the United States is staggering. In 2024 alone, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline received over 20.5 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation. These reports included more than 62.9 million files of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). This is not just a statistic; it represents real images, videos, and other materials depicting children enduring unimaginable harm.

Mike Prado, who heads the Cyber Crimes Center (C3) at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), put it plainly: “This is no longer just about lone offenders. Today, organized criminal groups overseas are running sextortion schemes that deliberately target American children for profit.” Operations out of places like West Africa have pushed kids in America into such despair that some have taken their own lives within hours of first contact. That is the new face of exploitation. And it’s happening in U.S. households. Every. Single. Day.

The game has changed. “Now these offenders have access to the same technology that the government has,” Prado told me. “They don’t have to go to MIT. They don’t have to have a computer science degree to figure this stuff out.”

Two decades ago, law enforcement relied on basic email for victim identification. Smartphones weren’t widely available, the darknet was barely in use, and exploiting technology required computer science expertise. Today, both predators and our children can figure out these tools with ease. Technology is everywhere, and every device a child receives, whether for school or learning, can become a portal into the darker areas of the internet. According to a 2019 Kaspersky study, 84% of parents worldwide are worried about their children’s online safety. Yet also according to the study, on average, parents only spend a total of 46 minutes talking to their children about online security throughout their entire childhood. Ignoring that is a luxury we can’t afford anymore.

While law enforcement and government investment in combating exploitation have increased over the years, there is still much more to do to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated offenders.

The core challenge is sheer scale. Every success is quickly met with new cases, and for every criminal network taken down overseas, another takes its place. It is the demand for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) in the U.S. that keeps this cycle in motion.

In 2024, reports involving generative artificial intelligence (AI) increased by 1,325%, highlighting how technology is being weaponized against our children. Additionally, reports of online enticement, including sextortion, rose by 192%, with nearly 100 reports of financial sextortion per day. Since 2021, NCMEC has been aware of at least 36 teenage boys who have taken their lives due to this crime.

The problem is not just the number of cases but the sophistication of the predators and the overwhelming volume of reports. In 2024, NCMEC assisted law enforcement with 29,568 cases of missing children and helped bring 91% of them home. However, the risks, especially online, are becoming more complex and widespread.

But I believe that partnerships are the key to changing the tide in this fight. Just this year, the inaugural Interstate Justice Coalition surge operation (coordinated between Our Rescue, We Fight Monsters, and Skull Games Solutions and in partnership with local law enforcement agencies) spanned across Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, resulting in the identification of 32 trafficking victims, the safe recovery of 26 survivors, and the arrest of 15 traffickers.

It’s work like this — collaboration between law enforcement, nonprofits, communities, and individuals is what ultimately keeps children safe. Fighting sex trafficking and child exploitation isn’t only about arrests: It’s also about prevention and education, because the best defense is an informed community. I invite you to learn more about how you can Join the Fight against sex trafficking and child exploitation.

We must stop living like it is someone else’s problem. It’s not. It’s here, and it’s exploding at a rate our communities are not prepared to handle.

No one can fight it alone. But together we can save lives and dismantle networks that exploit and harm children.

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Derek Benner is proud to serve as the CEO of Our Rescue. Formerly the Chief Mission Officer, overseeing international and domestic Operations and Survivor Care teams, he brings expertise gained from a 30-year career in federal law enforcement that includes leading Homeland Security Investigations within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Derek led the creation of the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking, the first unified, inter-component coordination center for countering human trafficking.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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