Tim Tebow helps advance bill for DHS to stop child sex abuse

Legislation to combat child sexual trafficking and exploitation advanced out of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday. The provision moved onto the Senate floor as a part of the GOP reconciliation bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security. The measure would increase the number of specialists combating child sexual abuse material and child trafficking at the Department of Homeland Security, said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. It would allocate $108.5 million to hire 200 child exploitation investigators and forensic analysts, Hawley said. Currently, the DHS has seven of these specialists, he said.

Hawley described the provision as a tremendous step forward to better protecting children online, tangibly and immediately. The provision was originally introduced in the House in January by Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla.

Who has advocated for the provision? Former American football quarterback Tim Tebow, whose nonprofit foundation works against human trafficking, has championed the cause for the funding. In March, Tebow testified to Hawley’s subcommittee about the need for more federal resources. He highlighted data from the Department of Justice, which showed that 338,000 unique IP addresses had shared child sexual abuse material within six months. As many as 89,000 unidentified child victims appear in these materials. Only a handful of the cases were investigated, Tebow said.

What bill has been proposed to fund DHS? The Secure America Act will fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday. He said the act will hopefully be voted on later this week. He noted that this bill would fund DHS for the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term in office, preventing another partial shutdown.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on the Tim Tebow Foundation’s brief alleging that the social media platform X facilitated the distribution of child sex abuse material.