From May 20 to June 24, Operation We Will Find You 2 (OWWFY2) was conducted, which marks its second iteration.
The Department of Justice has released a statement announcing the successful recovery and removal of 123 children from dangerous situations through the OWWFY2 initiative. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided technical assistance in this regard. Law enforcement or child welfare agencies located an additional 77 missing children, who were found to be in safe locations. Out of a total of 200 children found, 173 were considered endangered runaways, 25 were otherwise missing, one was a family abduction, and one was a non-family abduction. The youngest child recovered was only five months old. Notably, 14 of the children were found outside of the city where they had gone missing. Moreover, 57% of the missing children were recovered within seven days of the USMS’s involvement in the case.
The operation spanned across various cities in Arizona including Phoenix, Glendale, Goodyear, and Tucson. It also extended to cities in California, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, and Oregon.
The U.S. Marshals Service focused their efforts on regions with a significant concentration of endangered children who had gone missing.
Arizona reported 33 recoveries and 16 locates.
According to Van Bayless from the U.S. Marshals Service District of Arizona, a 16-year-old female from the Phoenix area, who appears to have been trafficked in Los Angeles and Miami, was eventually found in Michigan. The Marshals Service and their partner agencies were responsible for locating the girl, tracking her movements from Arizona, to Los Angeles, Miami, and finally Michigan.
The investigation into that case is still ongoing.
Investigators suspect that out of the 49 cases reported in Arizona, eight of them are highly probable victims of trafficking.
