Authorities in Los Angeles on Tuesday touted the results of a statewide crackdown on human trafficking, announcing the arrests of more than 600 suspects and saying more than 170 victims were rescued as part of the operation.
The weeklong campaign was part of an annual effort spearheaded by the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, and 80 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies looking to curb a crime that officials said targets the most vulnerable.
“This is a multibillion-dollar industry,” said Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman. “It is nothing less than modern slavery.”
Operations focused on corridors known for prostitution, and also involved parole and probation checks on individuals previously arrested for similar crimes, authorities said. In one case, Sheriff Robert Luna said, a citizen complaint about a possible residential brothel led to the discovery of multiple residential brothels in Walnut and the arrest of six suspected traffickers.
“California will not be a refuge to predators,” Luna said.
The arrests and the annual enforcement campaign, Luna said, are meant to send a message to traffickers in the area: “We’re coming after you. Don’t do this. You’re going to be arrested, and you’re going to be held accountable.”
This year’s operation was conducted the last week of January, but law enforcement officials stressed enforcement was ongoing.
“This is 365,” Hochman said. “It did not end in January. We’re going to continue to prosecute these cases the entire year.”
A total of 611 criminal arrests were conducted, and 156 adults were rescued as part of the operations, officials said. In addition, 14 children were rescued from sex trafficking. Officials said 71 suspected traffickers were arrested, and an additional 328 sex buyers were arrested.
The numbers were noticeably higher than previous operations. Last year, the similar weeklong campaign yielded 547 arrests, compared with 539 in 2024. Luna attributed the higher number this year to the information and experience the task force has developed.
“We just get better every year, we get more knowledgeable every year,” Luna said. “Those numbers do go up, but eventually they do go down. The message will get out, and it will slow down.”
In Los Angeles County alone, the operation resulted in 192 arrests, including multiple arrests that occurred along the Figueroa Street corridor, a known hub for prostitution and trafficking, said LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton.
“We have traffickers that are putting barely teenage girls out there on the streets of Los Angeles to be victimized,” he said.
Hamilton noted that several of the suspected traffickers arrested during the operations had traveled from outside the state to Los Angeles, including from Washington, Virginia, Idaho and Mississippi to bring men, women and children “for a quick, dirty buck on the streets of Los Angeles.”
In one incident, Hamilton said, patrol deputies on Jan. 26 responded to reports about a woman who was left on a bus. After officers comforted the woman and gained her trust, she asked them for help, Hamilton said.
Law enforcement officials said the operation focused on not just identifying predators and suspects, but victims so they could be connected to services and help. Often, officials said, pimps and predators are looking for young, vulnerable people in order to exploit them.
“They’re looking for runaways,” Hochman said. “They are looking for people who are just out of the foster system, they’re luring people using the tools of the internet and social media.”
Hochman described the number of arrests of customers — 328 — as “stunning.”
Los Angeles County prosecutors would be looking to charge several of the crimes as felonies, Hochman said, and added that he was interested in pressuring state legislators to increase penalties for sex trafficking and sex buyers, known as johns.
“If there wasn’t a demand of people willing to pay good, cold, hard cash to have sex with these young girls and boys, the supply would run out,” Hochman said.
Hochman said he was interested in creating a sex buyer registry website, similar to the sex-offender program in the state, that would publish the picture, conviction and neighborhood of each person convicted of paying for sex.
“To embarrass them, yes, but it’s to embarrass them to stop them and others from engaging from this conduct,” Hochman said.
Hochman also criticized current state sex trafficking laws, which don’t consider incidents involving adults as serious, violent felonies, he said. Criminals and gangs are taking advantage, he said, knowing that they won’t face serious charges unless the victims are underage.
“We’re looking for remedies that we can bring to the state Legislature to give us the tools to deal with these sex predators,” Hochman said.
