FBI & DEA Bust Underground Child Smuggling Ring at Arizona Border — 423 Rescued, 71 Arrested

FBI and DEA agents executed simultaneous raids across 14 sites in Arizona's border corridor in a pre-dawn operation that rescued 423 children and arrested 71 people connected to one of the largest child smuggling networks ever dismantled at the southwest border. Children from 11 countries, ages 4 to 17, were recovered — including 89 identified in HHS missing persons and ORR placement databases where the sponsor system had been fraudulently exploited. The 22-month joint FBI-DEA-HSI investigation began with a pattern of suspicious sponsor placement applications flagged by the HHS Inspector General, traced through cartel-connected financial infrastructure, and built through 14 court-authorized surveillance operations before executing on a single morning. This video covers the full investigation timeline, how the network exploited the federal unaccompanied minor legal framework, and what the scale of this operation tells us about the organized criminal infrastructure targeting children at the southwest border.