WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division arrested 905 suspects and rescued 180 human trafficking victims during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to a DHS release.
According to DHS, the rescued victims included 150 adults and 30 juveniles, identified through a joint effort involving HSI, the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking, and federal, state, and local law enforcement partners.
Among the operations highlighted, HSI Dallas executed eight federal arrest warrants on July 24 tied to an adult bookstore in Dallas that had allegedly operated as a covert brothel for more than 20 years. According to the release, the investigation, which HSI Dallas opened in 2023, found that thousands of adults and minors were sold for commercial sex through the business, with dozens of victims eventually identified. One victim was murdered in 2024, and a defendant in that case was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. The individuals named in the July arrest warrants face multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking through force, fraud and coercion, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
In a separate operation on June 23, HSI San Francisco worked alongside the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department to identify and rescue two minor female trafficking victims. According to DHS, one of the two had been reported missing out of Bakersfield, California, in November 2025 and had not been seen since.
Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said that while Americans and international visitors enjoyed the World Cup, ICE law enforcement was working to dismantle human trafficking operations across the tournament’s host cities. Bis said federal law enforcement arrested more than 900 suspects and rescued nearly 200 victims, crediting the effort to the Trump administration’s approach to combating trafficking networks under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
DHS said the trafficking arrests represent just one part of a broader set of security accomplishments during the World Cup. According to the agency, DHS and the FBI together seized more than 700 unauthorized drones, and CBP’s Air and Marine Operations flew more than 50 air missions over stadiums and host cities. CBP also completed more than 19,000 vehicle inspections headed into stadiums and fan festivals, and seized more than 473,000 counterfeit FIFA World Cup merchandise items, with an estimated genuine retail value exceeding $33 million.
Separately, DHS said HSI’s intellectual property rights enforcement efforts led to 48 arrests and 164 seizures tied to counterfeit World Cup merchandise, totaling more than 530,000 items with a manufacturer’s suggested retail value exceeding $85 million.
