Tim Tebow Rallies Bipartisan Leaders to Champion the Renewed Hope Act of 2024
Hello September 10th, 2024
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Washington, DC, Sept. 10, 2024 — Today, Tim Tebow, Chairman of the Tim Tebow Foundation (TTF) joins U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), U.S. Representative Laurel Lee (FL-15), and U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) to introduce the Renewed Hope Act of 2024. This bill would create and equip an army of analysts, investigators and forensic specialists to find and safeguard the more than 50,000 children who have been seen in sexually abusive images by law enforcement, but have not been protected yet.
The bill follows the testimony by Tim Tebow, founder and chairman of TTF, during a House Judiciary Hearing on March 6, 2024, “A Voice for the Voiceless,” where Tebow briefed members of Congress on the magnitude of this crisis.
“For too long, hundreds of thousands of girls and boys have endured horrific abuse — often at the hands of adults who are supposed to protect them,” said Tim Tebow. “Children in our nation are right now living in the darkest of evils, crying out for help. Their pain must stir us to act. This is why we’re calling on Congress to pass legislation to strengthen our nation’s response to identifying and rescuing these boys and girls. Because even with law enforcement and organizations working around the clock to rescue these children, it's just not enough. I'm deeply grateful to our leaders for shining a light on this bipartisan issue so that we can build a stronger rescue team of analysts, investigators, and law enforcement as we unite to find and safeguard every child in our nation suffering this great evil.”
“Tens of thousands of children are being exploited by vicious predators who steal their innocence and post abusive imagery of them online, often leaving scars that last long after a picture or video is deleted,” said Sen. Cornyn. “This bipartisan legislation would better protect and identify these children, rescue survivors, and stop the heinous crime of online child sexual abuse.”
“Over the last several decades, I have met parents and loved ones whose children’s lives have been decimated, and sometimes lost, because of the scourge of child sexual abuse material online,” said Sen. Blumenthal. “The internet can be a great force for good, but we’ve seen again and again and again how it can be malignly and maliciously exploited. These images of children – the exploitation of children and far too often, the loss of them – is absolutely unacceptable. The legislation will provide resources to combat child sexual abuse material, giving law enforcement and investigators – the troops on the ground – the tools and resources necessary to identify and rescue the victims as well as deter and prosecute these cases.”
"The internet platforms we use every day are being used to disseminate and collect child sex abuse material (CSAM),” said Rep. Lee. “CSAM and the exploitation of children are increasing at alarming rates, and Congress must ensure the men and women fighting back against these crimes have the tools and resources they need. The Renewed Hope Act will provide much-needed resources in the fight against online child exploitation and help protect our nation's children."
“Our children deserve to be protected from the ever-increasing number of digital predators who seek to harm them, which means we must expand our efforts to identify and support children who are victims of this online abuse and exploitation,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz. “As reports of predatory behavior against children continue to rise, I am proud to join my colleagues to introduce this bipartisan and bicameral legislation that will increase our capacity to identify children who are victims of child sexual exploitation by investing in the people on the front lines dedicated to finding and saving these innocent lives.”
“Americans consistently rank among the top consumers of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) livestreamed from the Philippines and around the world,” said Nate King, Director, U.S. Policy and Advocacy, International Justice Mission. “For example, according to a 2020 IJM study, 34% of OSEC cases in the Philippines involved customers from the United States. The Renewed Hope Act will increase the number of DHS staff focused on investigating OSEC and deepen investments in specialized training for U.S. and foreign law enforcement – all of which will be a boon to the global challenge of identifying victims and protecting children from technology-facilitated exploitation.”
“Identifying children victimized by online child sexual exploitation is crucial to recovering and safeguarding children from abusive situations,” Derrick Driscoll, Chief Operating Officer, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “The number of unknown children depicted in sexually exploitative imagery who need to be identified and recovered by law enforcement continues to grow exponentially as the volume of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) circulated online increases. NCMEC supports the Renewed Hope Act of 2024 because it will bolster much needed support for Homeland Security Investigations to expand its child identification work while also expanding crucial initiatives to coordinate child identification efforts with NCMEC and others to deconflict cases and expand training. Together we can work to ensure that all children depicted in sexually abusive materials are identified, safeguarded, and provided with crucial recovery services.”
Background:
Crimes involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM), which are images and videos of children under 12 being abused, raped, and tortured, have reached epidemic proportions. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 35.9 million reports of CSAM in 2023, up from 16.9 million reports in 2019.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Crime Center (HSI C3) has a National Child Victim Identification Program, where analysts search for clues in photos to help them identify the location of child victims in order to intervene and safeguard them. This program currently has only 10 dedicated analyst positions. These analysts work tirelessly to help locate these children, but the magnitude of this crisis demands more resources to address these crimes at scale.
In Fiscal Year 2023, C3 established the first U.S.-based, multi-national Victim Identification Task Force named Operation Renewed Hope (ORH). ORH I and II included 50 HSI special agents, analysts, computer forensic analysts, and task force officers with NCMEC, FBI, DOJ, Virginia State Police, and victim identification specialists from 19 foreign law enforcement agencies. The team reviewed CSAM material and tentatively identified more than 300 victims over the course of three weeks, culminating in the actual rescue to-date of hundreds of children seen in images. In 2024, the team reviewed over 900 CSAM series, generated over 400 referrals, and positively identified over 80 victims from those referrals.
The Child Exploitation Investigations Unit has demonstrated excellent results with limited resources. However, more than 50,000 children remain unidentified from the Interpol International Child Sexual Exploitation database.
The Renewed Hope Act of 2024 would enhance the Homeland Security Investigations capabilities by:
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Dedicated Child Exploitation workforce
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Requiring the hiring, training, and assigning at least 200 investigators, computer forensics, and criminal analysts to the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit and HSI field offices.
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Giving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorization to hire and assign contracts and temporary experts and consultants to support victim identification and location efforts.
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Center of Excellence
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Requiring the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish procedures for agencies within the DHS to deconflict, coordinate, and synchronize child sexual exploitation investigations with C3.
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Sustained Training
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Authorizing HSI’s victim identification training program to be used to provide training in new and advanced victim identification technology to ICE personnel, as well as Federal, State, local, military, and foreign law enforcement.
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The following organizations support the Renewed Hope Act of 2024: Tim Tebow Foundation, FLEOA, ChildFund International, Child Rescue Coalition, NCMEC, National Child Protection Task Force, National District Attorney Association, IJM, PACT, Major County Sheriffs of America, National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), Rights4Girls.
A one-pager on the bill is available here. The full text of the legislation is available here.
To advocate for this bill visit, click here.
To access pictures from the event, click here.
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The Tim Tebow Foundation exists to bring Faith, Hope and Love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need. Since inception in 2010, the ministry has served some of the world’s Most Vulnerable People across more than 90 countries and counting. This mission is fulfilled daily through ministry outreach focused on Orphan Care + Prevention, Special Needs, Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation, and Profound Medical Needs. The TTF team and partners, in both the United States and abroad, are actively fighting against trafficking and exploitation in three ways: Prevention, Rescue, and Survivor Care. To learn more about the Tim Tebow Foundation, visit www.timtebowfoundation.org. For more information on TTF’s Anti-Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Ministry, click here.
