Josh Hawley, Tim Tebow child trafficking bill passes with $108.5M funding

The Department of Homeland Security has only seven forensic analysts dedicated to child abuse investigations nationwide, according to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., whose proposal to fund 200 additional investigators and analysts has become law.

The measure, included in the massive $70 billion compromise package passed Friday to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, would invest $108.5 million in enforcement of child trafficking and exploitation. Hawley’s office said it would be the largest federal investment ever made to combat child trafficking.

“The Senate passed my bill along with Tim Tebow to save thousands of children trapped in the sex trade,” Hawley said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

HAWLEY LAUNCHED A GOOGLE INVESTIGATION AFTER ‘SHOCKING’ ALLEGATIONS ABOUT CHILD TRAFFICKING AT THE SENATE HEARING

“This means two hundred new law enforcement officers to find and rescue children abducted by predators, and a new initiative to coordinate local, state and federal enforcement,” he added. “This is the largest increase ever made by the federal government against child trafficking. Let’s go save these kids.”

The ruling, according to Hawley’s office inspired in part by former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow, who testified before the Hawley Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism on March 3 about exposing widespread child trafficking.

During his testimony, Tebow said that 338,000 unique IP addresses in the United States downloaded, shared or distributed child rape images over several months, but only a select few were investigated.

MORE THAN 300 PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED IN CRASHES RELATING TO CHILD ABUSE CRIMES

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks to reporters on the Senate subway during a vote at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 12, 2026. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Building on the Renewed Hope Act, the provision aims to provide resources for Homeland Security Investigations to hire 40 new forensic analysts in the HSI Child Abuse Investigation Unit Victim Identification Laboratory, as well as 30 new child abuse investigators in the HSI Child Abuse Investigation Unit Victim Identification Laboratory.

In addition, it aims to provide HSI with the ability to employ 130 additional forensic analysts and child abuse investigators, as well as to establish a specialized training program on victim identification so that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies can collaborate more effectively in investigations.

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Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, speaks with reporters in the hallway of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 2, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg)

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Tebow for comment but did not immediately hear back.