Justice Department Charges 73 in Sex-Trafficking Cases, Down 22% Under Trump

3 articles · Updated · The Daily Beast · Aug 13

73 people were charged with federal sex-trafficking offenses through June, about 22% below the first-half average of the previous three years despite the administration's pledge to make the crime a priority.
Reuters attributed the drop to Trump-era resource shifts: immigration and mass-deportation drives pulled attention from trafficking cases, while some Homeland Security Investigations agents were reassigned to pursue Trump's voter-fraud claims.
Staffing losses compounded the decline, with dozens of veteran DOJ prosecutors departing and some U.S. attorney's offices struggling to find lawyers to take sex-trafficking cases.
Other related prosecutions also fell through June, with 1,230 child-pornography charges down 3% and 318 Mann Act cases down 18%, underscoring a broader slowdown in trafficking-related enforcement.
The figures land as Attorney General Todd Blanche faces scrutiny over his handling of Jeffrey Epstein-related files, even after telling a July hearing that human trafficking remained a department priority.