Federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be on hand at the Super Bowl in Miami Feb. 2 with the goal of rescuing children and adults who are forced to have sex with tourists in town for the big game.
“We know that large-scale events such as these are ripe for human traffickers to exploit,” said acting ICE Director Matthew Albence at a press conference in Washington on Thursday. “We will be out in full force.”
ICE and partner law enforcement agencies arrested more than 160 people in the days leading up to and after last year’s National Football League championship game in Atlanta. More than two dozen of those arrested were human traffickers, and 34 had tried to have sex with minors. The agency also rescued two dozen victims. Albence said without ICE, the FBI, and local police, those victims would not have been saved.
“Sometimes people just say human trafficking, and it rolls off the shoulder,” said Albence. “We’re talking about children and women that are being sexually exploited. And when we say rescuing, this may be real, live-time, people being sexually exploited and abused and violated in the most obscene ways possible that our agents are able to go in there, rescue these victims and prosecute these dangerous organizations that are involved in this heinous crime.”
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations arm sends a team to the Super Bowl every year.
Last year, ICE’s HSI opened more than 1,000 investigations nationally into suspected human trafficking incidents. The Department of Homeland Security agency arrested 2,200 people on criminal charges and rescued or assisted more than 400 victims.
HSI agents will also be in Miami to stop the sale of counterfeit Super Bowl merchandise and tickets. Last year, HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized $24 million in fake Super Bowl items. The Super Bowl has increasingly seen counterfeit items produced and sold leading up to the game. For example, in 2012, agents seized only $4.8 million in gear.
