Reuters spoke to 25 former prosecutors, agents and victims' advocates, combed through federal court records — and found the Trump administration has fallen far short of its promise to make the fight against sex trafficking a priority.
Over the past six months, investigations have stalled and prosecutions have dropped. Staffing shortages, funding cuts and immigration enforcement are partly to blame. So is a growing distrust of the government among victims.
"You can't say something is a priority and then not provide the resources to make that happen,” said Jacqueline Kelly, a former federal prosecutor in New York.
Federal sex-trafficking charges have dropped this year to the slowest pace since 2010. The Justice Department charged 73 people through June, about 22% lower than the number of people charged during the first half of the past three years, court records show.
