Youngkin credits Trump administration with bolstering anti-human trafficking efforts

Youngkin, joined by Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and other state attorneys general, compared human trafficking enforcement to addressing transnational gangs.

"We must have multi-state and federal support in order to dismantle the networks, not just arrest an individual, we've got to unpack the networks," Youngkin told a crowd of a few hundred.

"We were able to unpick [MS-13 gangs] from their phones," Youngkin said. "What we found was an immense network being run out of incarcerated criminals, and once the FBI tools and the Homeland Security tools and the state police tools could all be unleashed, in the FBI regional headquarters here in Northern Virginia, a map went up on the wall of the organization, and it's just like any other work chart."

Miyares said in an interview with Fox News Digital he made requests to the Biden administration for an interagency task force to address MS-13, Tren de Aragua and other gangs but that the requests were made "on deaf ears." He said that, by contrast, the Trump administration has acted quickly.

In March, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Virginia announced the task force had made 342 arrests, "many of them with illegal status," and that 81 had "gang or transnational crime affiliation."

Human trafficking violations are governed largely by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a law passed more than two decades ago. Incidents can involve a person forcing or coercing another person into performing labor or sexual acts. The perpetrators tend to target children, women and vulnerable people, such as those living in economic hardship, fleeing natural disasters or struggling psychologically.

Youngkin said human trafficking is an "ill-defined" problem.