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Child sex crackdown: ICE arrests 442 ‘sponsors’ for illegal minors; FBI, DOJ take down dark web sites

by WorldTribune Staff, July 30, 2025 Real World News

The Trump Administration has arrested 442 child migrant "sponsors" on suspicion of child abuse or other crimes and has shut down four child exploitation sites on the dark web.

More than 13,000 illegal immigrant minors have been located by the Trump Administration.

President Donald Trump pledged that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be able to locate the thousands of minors who were allowed into the country without any supervision from adults in the Biden era.

White House advisor Stephen Miller told Fox News's Sean Hannity: "We now believe the true number of missing children that Joe Biden trafficked into the country, that the Democrats trafficked into the country, is 450,000, not 320,000."

"The Democrats have committed crimes to which they can never be forgiven, Sean, and Donald Trump is cleaning it up," Miller added.

Meanwhile, a joint operation between the Department of Justice and FBI resulted in the dismantling of four dark web child abuse sites, and has led to 18 convictions to date.

The DOJ announced on Wednesday that one of the convictions included Thomas Peter Katsampes, 52, of Eagan, Minnesota, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to advertise and conspiracy to distribute child pornography. He was sentenced on Tuesday to 250 months in prison and lifetime supervised release for his involvement with dark web sites. Katsampes was also ordered to pay $23,000 in restitution.

In 2022, he joined a dark web site dedicated to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), advertised and distributed it over the website, which included CSAM depicting prepubescent children. Katsampes worked his way up to a staff position on the website, which included moderating the site, enforcing its rules for posting CSAM, and advising the site's users about how to post CSAM.

“Yesterday’s sentencing reaffirms our steadfast commitment to protecting our children, the most vulnerable among us, from those who exploit and harm them through the despicable trade in child sexual abuse material,” U.S. Attorney Hayden O’Byrne for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.

“Thomas Peter Katsampes and his co-conspirators ran some of the dark web’s most heinous networks, enabling horrific crimes against innocent victims, but Operation Grayskull has shut these sites down and delivered justice. We applaud the FBI and our international partners for their tireless work, and let this be a clear warning: we will relentlessly pursue and prosecute anyone engaged in such atrocities, no matter how they attempt to cover their tracks.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said: “This operation represents one of the most significant strikes ever made against online child exploitation networks. We’ve not only dismantled dangerous platforms on the dark web, but we’ve also brought key perpetrators to justice and delivered a powerful message: you cannot hide behind anonymity to harm children.”
 

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