WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released the following statement on the results of Operation Restore Justice, a coordinated mission by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and law enforcement agencies to identify, track, and arrest child sex predators, which led to the rescue of 115 children and arrest of 205 child sex offenders, including one individual in the Eastern District of Texas and five in the Western District. These cases were brought through Project Safe Childhood, which Sen. Cornyn successfully led the law to reauthorize last year.

“There is no crime more heinous than child sexual exploitation, and I am grateful that my law to reauthorize the Project Safe Childhood program has most recently led to more than 200 dangerous individuals who have committed this unthinkable act being taken off our streets and 115 children being rescued through Operation Restore Justice,” said Sen. Cornyn. “Thank you to Attorney General Bondi, the entire Department of Justice, and other law enforcement agencies involved for prioritizing the safety of our nation’s most vulnerable, and I look forward to seeing even more arrests of child sex offenders in the future under my law.”

Background:

These legal cases were brought against hundreds of offenders as part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative to combat child sexual exploitation. This nationwide program was started in May 2006 by the DOJ. Sen. Cornyn authored and successfully passed the Project Safe Childhood Act, which was signed into law in December of 2024 and reauthorized and strengthened this critical initiative.

In Texas, Operation Restore Justice has led to the arrest of six individuals in the Eastern and Western Districts of Texas charged with crimes ranging from distribution and possession of child pornography to child sexual exploitation.