- Content: 
By Michaela Gordoni
As the US participates in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, law enforcement agencies warn that large events like this create more opportunities to exploit human trafficking victims.
“The FBI has an important role to play in major events across the country, and the upcoming World Cup is no different,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, Patrick Grandy.
Fox 11 reported that law enforcement from local, state and federal jurisdictions held a press conference Monday to prevent human trafficking at the games in LA, which begin on June 12.
“Please be alert. Many victims could be fearful and may not ask for help,” Grandy said.
Tina Chang, Regional Programs and Operations Director for Olive Crest, an organization that prevents child abuse, said traffickers see large events like this as a business opportunity. She recalled similar events where children have become exploited.
“We’ll see foster parents, residential treatment providers, county workers and parents all calling and saying, ‘My child has gone missing,’ and then law enforcement is conducting stings, and they’re finding these young people in motels and hotels and on the streets of LA,” she said.
LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said police are making a concentrated effort to raise awareness and protect the public.
Related: 60 Missing Children Saved From Human Trafficking in Florida Operation
Chang said people should be on the lookout for anything abnormal.
“Just letting people know that’s not okay. I don’t think having a party and being served by a bunch of young people is okay. I’m not going to do that,” Chang said. “We really need people to step up and say that’s not what I’m here for.”
ABC reports there is a notorious hub for human trafficking, known as the Figueroa Corridor or “The Blade,” near LA’s Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center.
“When you’re sleeping, there’s a 13-year-old girl who’s just seen her ninth sex buyer of the day,” LAPD officer and vice investigator Liz Armendariz said in February. “The youngest on Figueroa Street that I’ve rescued is a 12-year-old, and the youngest ever rescued along the Figueroa Corridor was 9 years old.”
A New York Times writer reported that over half of the girls in The Blade were in the Foster Care system.
“It is difficult because it is like Whac-A-Mole,” LA Mayor Karen Bass said. “You can crack down on Figueroa and now we have a problem in another part of the city, which is why it is important to go after the criminal enterprises, the traffic and to go after the johns [pimps].”
Sara Elander, a member of the LA-based nonprofit Saving Innocence, points the issue of child trafficking to the buyers.
“Until men are unwilling to purchase children for sex, we are going to have this issue,” Elander said.
Please pray that LA residents, law enforcement and FIFA visitors will be aware of these dangers while the games take place and that many pimp arrests will be made.
Read Next: Exposing Human Trafficking Using Popular Entertainment
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
