Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25), Jeff Van Drew (NJ-02), Jared Moskowitz (FL-23), Nathaniel Moran (TX-01), introduced the PROTECT Our Children Act, which would reauthorize and modernize the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the companion bill in the Senate.

“Our lives are increasingly intertwined with the internet, and those who would commit crimes against our children know that all too well. With the PROTECT Our Children Act, the ICAC Task Force Program will get predators off line and help make the internet a safe space for all children,” said Rep. Wasserman Schultz. “I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to build on the original PROTECT Our Children Act that I authored over a decade ago. We all have a role to play in keeping our children safe.”

“Predators are using new technology every day to exploit children online, and law enforcement needs to be able to keep up,” said Rep. Van Drew. “The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force plays a critical role in this fight, but right now, they are being under-resourced. This is why the PROTECT Our Children Act is so important—it strengthens their ability to track down these criminals, rescue victims, and hold offenders accountable.”

“The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program has a long history of equipping our law enforcement officers with the tools needed to safeguard children and hold perpetrators accountable,” said Sen. Cornyn. “This legislation would reauthorize and update this critical program to address the evolving digital threat landscape and protect our children from these heinous crimes.”

“The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force leads the fight to keep kids safe from predators online,” said Sen. Blumenthal. “This bipartisan legislation gives the Task Force and its law enforcement partners the tools and resources they need in their collaborative effort to fight child exploitation and protect our nation’s kids from abhorrent abuse in an increasingly online society.”

The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program helps state and local law enforcement agencies develop an effective response to technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and Internet crimes against children. This encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services, and community education. This national network of 61 coordinated task forces represents more than 5,400 federal, state, and local law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies engaged in both proactive and reactive investigations, forensic investigations, and criminal prosecutions.

Since 1998, ICAC Task Forces have trained more than 826,700 law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and other professionals on techniques to investigative and prosecute ICAC-related cases. They have also reviewed more than 1,452,040 reports of online child exploitation, resulting in the arrest of more than 123,790 suspects.

The PROTECT Our Children Act would:

• Update and modernize the requirements for the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, including requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to provide detailed, useful information on efforts to protect children nationwide;
• Provide liability protection for ICAC Task Forces in the course of conducting criminal investigations of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and child abuse material;
• Make needed technical improvements and clarifications to the statutory text of the program to match it to current technology and needs;
• Focus the ICAC program on both proactive and reactive investigations;
• And reauthorize the ICAC Program through 2028 with an escalator authorization.

The PROTECT Our Children Act is endorsed by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), National Children’s Alliance, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), Rights 4 Girls, National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), Raven, Fraternal Order of Police, Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies (ASCIA), and the National Criminal Justice Training Center (NCJTC). 

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