The Justice Department has quietly pared the amount of information available on its anti-child sex trafficking page, causing outrage among survivors and advocates.
Approximately two-thirds of the text on the webpage was cut over recent weeks, including sections on “International Sex Trafficking of Minors,” “Domestic Sex Trafficking of Minors” and “Child Victims of Prostitution.”
Snapshots taken from the WayBackMachine archive indicate that the changes were made sometime between April 21 and May 28.
The DOJ says the adjustments were driven by efforts to keep its website updated in accordance with its 2023 National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction.
“In the course of the Department publishing the most recent National Strategy, related content on various Department webpages was updated,” the DOJ told The Post.
“Just as it has during previous administrations, the Department continues to place a very high priority on and devote substantial resources to fighting child exploitation and child sex trafficking, both domestically and internationally. To suggest otherwise is simply false.”
But advocates were unconvinced.
Victor Marx, a survivor of child sexual abuse and head of All Things Possible Ministries, argued there are questions about the website alterations that need answering.
“It’s heartening to see a commitment to addressing this grave issue, both domestically and internationally,” he said in response to the 2023 national strategy. “However, the recent changes to the Department’s website, particularly the removal of specific sections related to child sex trafficking, have raised valid concerns.”
“The message we’re sending to our children and the criminals, and the women at large that are concerned is the administration doesn’t care,” Marx told The Post.
“I think they’re trying to lower their culpability and responsibility,” he added. “They’re having to lower and lessen their footprint and their position on this because believe me, it’s horrible and stories are going to start to come out.”
He noted that the website changes coincide with the release of “Sound of Freedom,” a new movie on child sex trafficking.
Marx also underscored the importance of having resources such as the DOJ website to provide information for victims and witnesses.
“It’s key from prevention all the way to arrest and prosecution on both sides,” he stressed. “Clear, accessible, and comprehensive information available to the public is key to raising awareness and fostering cooperation in combating these heinous crimes.”
Jaco Booyens, whose sister was trafficked for seven years in South Africa and leads his own organization to fight exploitation in the US and near the southern border, argued the change wasn’t surprising.
“I was not shocked at all,” he told The Post. “The reason it happened, the way it happened has a lot to do with the border. It has a lot to do with the timing that there’s a general awareness on human trafficking.”
Booyens further contended that the changes to the site illustrate how the DOJ is deprioritizing the issue, despite the department’s denials.
“We know the effect of trafficking across the border of women and children. And so to deprioritize it … it’s absolutely moving in the wrong direction,” he said.
“It’s nefarious. This is not a political issue. It should never be a political issue. This is an issue of human dignity and human life. And it’s a humanitarian issue.”
Two notable portions of the website that got scrubbed referenced cross-border transportation of children and child exploitation that stems from prostitution.
“One form of sex trafficking involves the cross border transportation of children. In these situations, traffickers recruit and transfer children across international borders in order to sexually exploit them in another country,” the original website said.
“Pimps and traffickers sexually exploit children through street prostitution, and in adult night clubs, illegal brothels, sex parties, motel rooms, hotel rooms, and other locations throughout the United States,” the original website said of prostitution.
The website adjustments drew attention from members of Congress.
“DOJ’s blatant move to distance Joe Biden’s harmful policies from the global crime of sex trafficking should be no surprise to any of us who have seen the blatant sexualization and abuse of children this Administration is comfortable with promoting,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) wrote in a press release.
A handful of Republicans have also been scrutinizing the Biden administration over reports that it lost track of 85,000 migrant children over the past two years.
Between 600,000 and 800,000 individuals are believed to be trafficked through international borders annually, roughly half of whom are children, the State Department estimates.
Reliable statistics on child sex trafficking are difficult to find because it is an underreported crime.
DOJ officials insist the department is working diligently to combat the prevalence of child exploitation and stressed that its team of experts have been trying to bolster the national strategy.
“The 2023 National Strategy and supporting subject matter expert working group reports, including the Child Sex Trafficking in the United States, Livestreaming and Virtual Child Sex Trafficking, and Extraterritorial Child Sexual Abuse reports reflect the most up-to-date information about child exploitation including domestic minor sex trafficking, virtual child sex trafficking, and extraterritorial and transnational child sexual exploitation,” a rep told The Post.
