Newswatch

FBI Arrests 205 Suspected Child-Sex Predators in 5-Day Sweep

Federal authorities arrested 205 suspects for allegedly targeting children for sex offenses, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel announced on May 7 at a news conference in Washington.

“The operation resulted in the rescue of 115 children,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The five-day sweep was an “unprecedented national operation” that snared suspected predators who “hide behind a computer and target our young children,” Bondi said.

She and Patel vowed to ensure that the suspects are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Some of the charges could carry life sentences upon conviction, Bondi said.

“If you harm our children, you will be given no sanctuary,” Patel said.

“There is no place we will not come to hunt you down. There is no place we will not look for you, and there is no cage we will not put you in, should you do harm to our children.”

The suspects are alleged to have committed various crimes, including the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography, online enticement and transportation of minors, and child-sex trafficking, according to a Justice Department statement.

Patel highlighted cases of several of the arrestees, including an illegal immigrant from Mexico who is accused of transporting a minor across state lines. A pair of police officers—one from Minneapolis and the other an ex-officer from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington—were also among the suspects; Patel alleged they violated “not only the law but the public trust.”

Bondi urged parents to monitor their children’s online activity because seemingly innocent interactions can change “from instant message to instant nightmare.”

“Parents: They’re talking to your kids like they’re other children, and they’re not; they’re predators. They pose as children,” she said.

Sometimes, the alleged predators persuade children “to post explicit pictures of themselves” and then use those images “to try to blackmail the children,” Bondi said. Such cases are contributing to the escalating suicide rate among teens aged 14 to 17, Bondi said.

Patel said the enforcement effort, called “Operation Restore Justice,” demonstrates that the Department of Justice, under President Donald Trump, is prioritizing these types of investigations and prosecutions. Patel and Bondi commended the personnel who have dedicated themselves to bringing criminals who target children to justice.

These employees “don’t take breaks,” Patel said, thanking the FBI’s 55 field offices, more than 90 U.S. attorneys’ offices, among others, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

He said in a post on social media platform X that the investigators’ work “undoubtedly saved lives and protected vulnerable kids from further horrific crimes.”

Bondi said working on cases of alleged “depravity” takes a toll on FBI agents and prosecutors.

“They are working tirelessly online, dealing with the dregs of our society … the people that hide behind a computer and target our young children,” she said.

“Our law enforcement, our prosecutors, sit there and deal with this every day to get these monsters off the street.”

Bondi noted that the cases span the United States, “from California, to New York, to Florida.”

The Justice Department said in a press release that the cases “were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.“ That program, launched in May 2006, ”marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims,” according to the department.

Suspected exploitation of children may be reported to the FBI’s tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324), tips.fbi.gov, or by calling a local FBI field office, the department said in a statement.

New Details Confirm 764 Ring Preys on Children

The FBI is conducting over 250 investigations related to a violent global child exploitation network known as “764” that took its name from the zip code of its Texas-based founder, with connections to a North Carolina man.

Last week, 20-year-old Prasan Nepal of High Point appeared in Greensboro Federal Court after being arrested and charged with leading the network.

FBI field offices across the country are handling 764-related cases involving victims as young as 9. David Scott, assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, said the group targets young girls and vulnerable users on social media and gaming platforms to gain their trust before blackmailing them into producing violent content they can share online.

In one case, a 17-year-old girl in Connecticut was arrested for allegedly conspiring with a 764 member to carry out bomb and swatting threats against schools and places of worship.

TSA Confirms REAL ID Enforcement in Effect at US Airports

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said that 81 percent of domestic air travelers have identification compliant with REAL ID requirements that went into effect at U.S. airports on May 7.

A spokesperson for the TSA confirmed to The Epoch Times on May 7 that the agency has started “full enforcement” of the law and that people who show IDs that are not compliant will “receive a warning” and will be sent to a “separate area” to undergo more screening from the TSA.

The TSA, the spokesperson said, is not accepting “state-issued identifications that are not REAL ID compliant” and that “early reports from airports indicate there are no issues and wait times remain within benchmark levels.”

About 81 percent of domestic air travelers already have a REAL ID or another form of identification, such as passports, the spokesperson added.

Starting May 7, the agency “will enforce REAL ID in a manner that minimizes the impact to overall operations and especially for those passengers who are prepared with their REAL ID, passport or other acceptable form of ID,” the spokesperson added. “TSA is planning accordingly to ensure no impact to wait times or TSA screening operations​,” the statement continued.

The statement echoes a comment made by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees the TSA, during a House hearing on Tuesday. She said people without REAL IDs or alternatives will be allowed to fly, but may need to undergo more steps.

“Folks will come through the line, and [they] will issue their ID and show it. If it’s not compliant, they may be diverted to a different line, have an extra step, but people will be allowed to fly,” she told the congressional panel, also reiterating that 81 percent of people have compliant forms of ID.

The REAL ID law was passed in Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks commission recommended enhanced screening measures in the wake of the attacks. The mandate was pushed back a number of times until May 7, 2025.

Federal, state, and local governments have been encouraging people through a variety of means to upgrade or get REAL ID-compliant licenses or IDs in advance of the deadline.

A REAL ID is a state-issued driver’s license or identification card that is approved by the federal government. The IDs are typically marked with a star on the upper right corner of the ID card or license, although each state has a different design.

Aside from the new form of ID, other acceptable identification can be presented at TSA checkpoints, including U.S.-issued and foreign passports and some government-issued ID cards, according to the TSA’s website. Enhanced Driver’s Licenses that are issued by Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Vermont are considered acceptable under the TSA mandate.

Under the mandate, people will also need to show a REAL ID at a military base or a secure federal building, such as a courthouse, the TSA says. However, the ID is not required to drive. The TSA also does not mandate that children under the age of 18 have one to fly.

A spokesperson for the TSA also told news outlets this week that the agency is recommending that travelers without an acceptable form of ID should arrive at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure time

 

House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill to Counter CCP’s Forced  Organ Harvesting

WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives voted 406–1 to pass a measure aimed at punishing perpetrators of state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China.

The Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act (HR 1503), led by Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and William Keating (D-Mass.), takes aim at the organ transplant abuse and the trafficking of people for that purpose.

The act would sanction anyone implicated in the abuse, including members of the Chinese Communist Party, blocking their property and barring them from engaging in U.S. transactions. Such individuals would also have their visas revoked and lose other immigration benefits.

Perpetrators could also face a maximum civil fine of $250,000, and for those engaging in the act willfully, a criminal penalty of up to $1 million and 20 years in prison.

“We need a penalty that’s commensurate with the crime, and the crime is outrageous,” Smith told The Epoch Times ahead of the vote.

The bill would require the president to submit a list of individuals who fund, sponsor, or otherwise facilitate the abuse to the appropriate congressional committee within 180 days of enactment.

It would also require an assessment of each foreign country regarding forced organ harvesting and trafficking in persons. The latter refers to acts of coercion, abduction, deception, fraud, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or transactional exchange to exert control over a targeted person.

If enacted into law, the act would make it a U.S. policy to combat the illicit act; to promote the establishment of voluntary organ donation systems with effective enforcement mechanisms in bilateral talks and international health forums; and to promote the dignity and security of human life in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Smith said the bill will send a message to anyone who tries to get an organ without caring about its origin.

“You’re going to pay a huge huge penalty for it,” he said.

“It has been stealth. There’s been a cover-up for far too many years by many of the China hands—the people that work on K Street and just talk about trade, trade, trade,” he said. “I’m for trade as long as it’s principled and based on human rights.”

‘Barbaric’

The forced organ harvesting industry saw a boom starting from 2000, as the regime began a full-scale campaign to persecute the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which by then had an estimated 70 million to 100 million practitioners in China.

In 2019, a London-based people’s tribunal concluded that forced organ harvesting had been carried out in China on a “significant scale” and that the primary targets were Falun Gong practitioners, with Uyghurs, who face continued mass detention and forced labor in Xinjiang, next most at risk of becoming a live organ bank.

Chinese hospitals may advertise waiting times as short as days and weeks to attract foreign tourists desperate for organs.

“That doesn’t happen anywhere in the transplant world. It just doesn’t happen,” Smith said.

“It’s because they say, ‘Oh, this is what we need,’ so they go get that prisoner. They’ve got a large stockpile of information of who’s got what and what their antigens are and everything else,” and the authorities, upon finding a match, would kill the victim to get the organ, he added.

“I’ve never seen anything as barbaric.”

Mark Yang, advocacy officer for the nonprofit Falun Dafa Information Center, said at a news conference on May 7, “The Chinese Communist Party remains one of the most serious threats to human rights.”

 

Body of 10-year-old girl Found

BRENHAM, Texas (AP) — The body of a 10-year-old girl who was swept away in rapidly rising floodwaters has been recovered, Brenham Fire Chief Mark Donovan said Tuesday.

Her body was found as forecasters warned that the day could bring more heavy rains and flooding to the Houston area and the state’s coast.

The girl was identified by authorities as Devah Woods, a third-grade student at Brenham Elementary School.

Woods and her sister were walking home from school around 4 p.m. Monday when they got caught in floodwaters from a creek, said Melinda Gordon, a spokesperson for the city.

Authorities are not sure if Woods slipped and fell in the creek, but her sister ran to get help, Gordon said. A man who saw her get swept away and a Brenham police officer tried to rescue her but were unsuccessful.

The man “got her backpack, but she got away from him,” Gordon said. The man and the officer were treated by paramedics and released.

Teams of people scoured the city Monday night, using dogs and drones with thermal imaging to try to find the girl. The water rescue operation was scaled back overnight when heavy thunderstorms moved through, but four swift water rescue teams resumed operations early Tuesday, the Fire Department said via social media.

The department worked with more than a dozen supporting agencies in the search.

Around 10:45 a.m., a dive team with the Texas Department of Public Safety told authorities that it had found her body, Brenham Police Lt. Steven Eilert said during a news conference.

“We have taken care of her as much as we could. Our hearts go out to (her) family. It is a difficult thing,” Eilert said.

Woods’ mother attended the news conference but did not speak.

The girl’s body was found 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers) from where she went missing, Gordon said.

Brenham, which has about 19,000 residents, is located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Houston.

“We’re a very, very special community, very tight-knit Christian community. The response from everyone was overwhelming,” Mayor Atwood Kenjura said. “We don’t like the outcome that happened.”

At Woods’ school, support services were being provided for students and staff, according to the Brenham Independent School District.

“Our hearts are broken for Devah’s family, and we ask that you continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this unimaginably difficult time,” the district said in a social media post.

The next round of severe storms threatened to bring as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain Tuesday to parts of southeastern Texas, according to the National Weather Service in Houston. Strong rip currents and flooding along Gulf-facing beaches, especially during high tide, were also forecast.

A large swath of Texas and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi were under flood watches early in the day.

Just last week, storms drenched much of southern Oklahoma and northern Texas, washing out roads and causing hundreds of flight cancelations and delays.

 

‘A Global Problem’

The act’s passage on May 7 makes it the second bill in a week that the legislative body has approved to counter the ongoing abuse in China.

On May 5, the House approved the Falun Gong Protection Act, which directs the United States to raise awareness on the global stage about the persecution, and to coordinate sanctions with allies and multilateral institutions. It also requires three top U.S. agencies to work together on a report clarifying organ transplant practices in China, the Chinese regime’s policies regarding prisoners of conscience, and any U.S. grants supporting China in the organ transplantation field.

At the news conference, Dean Baxendale, a Canadian publisher and CEO of the China Democracy Fund, called for the world to come together to confront Beijing’s human rights abuses.

“This is not an American problem. This is a global problem,” he said.

“The Chinese Communist Party is cashing in on the full-fledged active genocide of the Uyghurs and the Falun Gong practitioners … profiting from an economy built on human suffering,” she said. “The world cannot afford to look away.”