Youngkin calls for multi-state support to dismantle trafficking networks

ARLINGTON, Va. – Gov. Glenn Youngkin laid out his plans to address human trafficking during an annual conference Tuesday, saying the Trump administration has been a shot in the arm to state law enforcement as it attempts to tackle the elusive issue.

Youngkin, joined by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and other state attorneys general, compared human trafficking enforcement to addressing transnational gangs.

“We must have multi-state and federal support in order to dismantle the networks, not just arrest an individual, we’ve got to unpack the networks,” Youngkin told a crowd of a few hundred.

The Trump administration has been a boon to human trafficking enforcement efforts, Youngkin said, noting he met with top Justice Department officials at the White House after the inauguration to discuss the matter and found them receptive. Virginia law enforcement has since been coordinating with the federal government to take down foreign gang operations, which Youngkin said overlaps with the human trafficking space. Youngkin used the example of gang crime inside correctional centers, which he said was the first “thread” his team pulled.

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“We were able to unpick [MS-13 gangs] from their phones,” Youngkin said. “What we found was an immense network being run out of incarcerated criminals, and once the FBI tools and the Homeland Security tools and the state police tools could all be unleashed, in the FBI regional headquarters here in Northern Virginia, a map went up on the wall of the organization, and it’s just like any other work chart.”

Miyares said in an interview with Fox News Digital he made requests to the Biden administration for an interagency task force to address MS-13, Tren de Aragua and other gangs but that the requests were made “on deaf ears.” He said that, by contrast, the Trump administration has acted quickly.

“It’s not just drug trafficking. Human trafficking is a huge component of it.… Within 30 days, [the Trump administration] had both approved it and given us interagency space at the FBI field office in Manassas, a huge space where we had both federal, state and local law enforcement working together,”…