Twelve men walked into a Homestead hotel room expecting to pay to be intimate with girls ages 13 to 15.
Florida law enforcement was waiting for them.
Find out what Florida's AG is doing to every predator who thinks the World Cup is their opportunity.
Biden's DOJ Looked the Other Way. Uthmeier Didn't.
Just over a year ago, Biden's Justice Department refused to prosecute a human trafficking operation in the Florida Keys.
Traffickers caught smuggling Chinese and Ecuadorian nationals into South Florida – detained by Border Patrol – walked free because Merrick Garland's U.S. Attorney's Office declined to file charges.
Senator Rick Scott demanded answers from Garland and Mayorkas in September 2024.
He never got them.
That's the Florida that James Uthmeier inherited when he took office in February 2025.
In the sixteen months since, Florida has arrested nearly 1,700 child predators and human traffickers.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2066969046180888812?s=20
Prosecutions are up over 50%.
Convictions are up nearly 40%.
Active human trafficking cases statewide have jumped 28% – meaning Florida is finding victims nobody was finding before.
Convicted defendants are serving a combined 3,275 years in prison.
That's not a government press release number.
That's predators rotting in cells because Florida decided to take this seriously after four years of a federal government that wouldn't.
The Homestead sting is the sharpest example of what that looks like in practice.
Miami-Dade detectives created a fake online advertisement offering two underage girls.
Twelve men – ranging in age from 22 to 51 – responded, negotiated specific lewd acts, and drove to the hotel to pay.
"They knew they were buying a child," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. "They had intended to exploit and have sex with these children."
Those men are now sitting in jail without bond.
The World Cup Is the Biggest Trap Florida Has Ever Set
Florida is about to host one million visitors in greater Miami alone.
Law enforcement is not hoping predators stay home.
They are counting on them showing up.
Starting in March, Fernandez Rundle's office ran 19 undercover operations before the tournament even started – 100 arrests, 178 charges.
Six operations ran in a single week just ahead of the opening match.
Roughly two dozen more are planned before the World Cup wraps in Miami.
"We are flooding hotels and restaurants," Fernandez Rundle said. "We are flooding all of the service providers."
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2066996805263306774?s=20
The FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, Uber, Starbucks – which just committed $1 million to Florida's Alliance to End Human Trafficking – and dozens of private-sector businesses are operating together in a way that has never existed before.
When a trafficker crosses into Florida thinking the crowd gives them cover, 70 law enforcement agencies are already watching.
FDLE Assistant Commissioner John Vecchio put it plainly: "If you come to our home and take advantage of Floridians and our visitors, we will hold you accountable."
That's not a warning.
That's a promise backed by 3,275 years of prison sentences already on the books.
Uthmeier closed Tuesday's event at Florida International University the same way he's run his entire tenure – without hedging and without flinching.
"We save lives," he said. "Let's keep doing it."
Here's what that actually means: Garland's DOJ let traffickers walk in the Florida Keys in August 2024.
Uthmeier took over six months later and immediately started putting predators away for 120-year sentences.
The difference isn't resources or manpower or federal funding.
The difference is whether the people in charge actually want to win.
Florida does.
The World Cup is not a vulnerability.
Florida turned it into a hunting ground – and the prey is every man who thought a global event gave him permission to buy a child.
Sources:
- Kennedy Owens, "AG Uthmeier touts trafficking crackdown ahead of World Cup, cites rise in prosecutions," Florida Voice News, June 16, 2026.
- Liv Caputo, "Uthmeier, federal partners warn of human trafficking during FIFA World Cup," Florida Phoenix, June 16, 2026.
- Staff, "Florida Authorities Nab A Dozen Men In Human Trafficking Sting Ahead Of World Cup," The Daily Caller, June 11, 2026.
- Staff, "Florida Announces Record Human Trafficking Crackdown, More Than 1,600 Arrests Since 2025," Florida Daily, June 2, 2026.
- Staff, "FL Attorney General praises 'record-breaking' human trafficking enforcement efforts," WCTV, June 2, 2026.
- Sen. Rick Scott, "Scott & Colleagues Demand Answers from DOJ & DHS on Failure to Prosecute Human Trafficking Case in Florida Keys," rickscott.senate.gov, September 19, 2024.
