Cornyn’s Measures to Fight Online Child Abuse Officially Signed into Law

Texas Border Business

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released the following statement after a provision he authored as part of his Renewed Hope Act to enhance the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s capabilities to identify, rescue, and protect victims of online child sexual exploitation and bring perpetrators to justice was signed into law by President Trump as part of the Secure America Act:

“Predators are developing increasingly sophisticated tactics for targeting children online with the proliferation of AI and emerging technologies,” said Sen. Cornyn. “By increasing Homeland Security Investigations’ ability to hire, train, and retain investigators, computer forensic analysts, and other specialized victim identification staff as part of the Secure America Act, my legislation will equip law enforcement with the resources needed to confront the evolving digital threat landscape, bring offenders to justice, and safeguard children from the horrors of exploitation and abuse.”

Background:

Sen. Cornyn’s provision that passed as part of the Secure America Act, now law, allocates $108.5 million to hire additional victim identification analysts, forensic analysts, and investigators focused on identifying and rescuing unknown children depicted in Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). This provision is part of the Renewed Hope Act that Sen. Cornyn authored. He has partnered with former football star and victims’ rights advocate Tim Tebow to bring attention to this issue and will continue to push for his legislation to pass this Congress.

In 2015, Congress passed the Human Exploitation Rescue Operations (HERO) Act, which established the Cyber Crimes Center (C3) and a Child Exploitation Investigations Unit within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The Unit is tasked with coordinating HSI’s investigations into child exploitation, child pornography, and child victim identification.

Sen. Cornyn’s Renewed Hope Act would:

1. Increase HSI resources to hire, train, and assign computer forensics and criminal analysts to the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit and field offices to support victim identification and rescue efforts;

1. Clarify the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit’s role in coordinating child exploitation investigations within the Department of Homeland Security;
2. And improve training in new and advanced victim identification technology for HSI personnel and their federal, state, local, military, and foreign law enforcement partners.