H.R. 5538

119th CONGRESS 1st Session

To direct the Attorney General to convene a national working group to study proactive strategies and needed resources for the identification and rescue of children from sexual exploitation and abuse, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES · September 19, 2025 · Sponsor: Mr. Vindman · Committee: Committee on the Judiciary

Table of contents

• H.R. 5538
  • SEC. 1. Short title
  • SEC. 2. Findings
  • SEC. 3. United States Working Group on Children in Imminent Danger of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

SEC. 1. Short title

• This Act may be cited as the Child Rescue Act.

SEC. 2. Findings

• Congress finds the following:
  • The growing international trade in child sexual abuse material creates demand and incentive for the sexual assault of children throughout the United States.
  • United States law enforcement efforts to combat child sexual exploitation have the potential to help multiple distinct groups of victims, including—
    • children depicted in child sexual abuse material (CSAM) who are still being abused;
    • children and adults whose victimization as a child continues to be viewed and shared online; and
    • children who are being sexually abused or exploited by adults who could be interdicted while accessing or sharing CSAM online.
  • In 2021, law enforcement investigative systems detected more than 325,000 unique Internet Protocol addresses in the United States seen distributing child sexual abuse material across peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
  • A growing body of research, including academic studies, analysis by the United States Sentencing Commission, and findings by law enforcement polygraphers, indicates that a significant percentage of majority of individuals possessing and sharing CSAM are who possess illegal imagery and also commit contact offenses. In 2021, the United States Sentencing Commission found that in fiscal year 2019, 48 percent of , their current offense. Studies including Seto et al, the Butner Redux, the OJJDP study, and Bourke et al Tactical Polygraph study have found that between 50 and 80 percent of offenders who possess CSAM are also committing contact sexual offenses against children. dual offenders non-production child pornography offenders engaged in aggravating sexual conduct prior to, or concurrently with
  • According to a 2018 study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), . in cases involving a single victim and single offender, actively traded cases were associated with having prepubescent victims. Actively traded cases were also associated with more egregious content in terms of sexual activity, and more likely to involve familial offenders, particularly nuclear family members
  • CyberTipline reports often lead to the rescue of children through the successful investigation of offenders who are not only exploiting children by circulating CSAM, but who are also committing contact offenses. In 2020, 21,700,000 CyberTipline reports were submitted to NCMEC and approximately 288,000 CyberTipline reports were made available to the 61 Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) units across the country.
  • United States law enforcement’s ability to detect and interdict online traffic in CSAM provides an opportunity to locate sexual predators and rescue children through victim-centric investigations.
  • With inadequate resources, United States law enforcement agencies are increasingly unable to adequately respond to this rapidly growing number of CyberTips and other investigative leads, a problem which also reduces the number of proactive undercover investigations and education activities they can conduct.
  • Investigations of these crimes are complicated by the increasing prevalence of encryption and anonymizing services available to offenders.

SEC. 3. United States Working Group on Children in Imminent Danger of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

• (a) Establishment
  • Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish a national working group, to be known as the (hereinafter referred to as the ), to study victim-centric policing strategies and resource needs to identify and rescue— United States Working Group on Children in Imminent Danger of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
    • children in the United States who are visually depicted in child sexual abuse material;
    • children in the United States who are victims of sexual abuse by individuals who are engaged in an offense relating to child sexual abuse materials; and
    • children located outside the United States who are visually depicted in child sexual abuse materials where the perpetrators are in the United States.
• (b) Duties of the working group
  • (1) Information request
    • Not later than 30 days after the establishment of the Working Group under subsection (a), the Working Group shall solicit from each State, Tribal, or local law enforcement agency the information necessary to develop the estimates under paragraph (2).
  • (2) Development of estimates
    • The Working Group shall:
      • Develop estimates of the total number of individuals suspected with respect to child sexual abuse material or other crimes involving sexual contact with children in the United States, including those who are—
        • (i) known to a law enforcement agency;
        • (ii) identified by law enforcement through proactive policing; or
        • (iii) reported to the CyberTipline of NCMEC (or any successor to the CyberTipline operated by NCMEC).
      • Develop estimates of the total number of child victims of child sexual abuse in the United States who could be located and protected from further abuse through the apprehension of suspects described under subparagraph (A).
      • Develop recommendations of the funding, resources, and proactive and reactive strategies necessary for law enforcement agencies to successfully identify, locate, and protect child victims—
        • (i) described in subparagraph (B); and
        • (ii) who appear in child sexual abuse material known to a law enforcement agency or NCMEC.
      • Develop or obtain estimates of the number of child sexual abuse reports made annually to law enforcement agencies and to State, Tribal, and local child protective services, broken out by locality and relationship between victim and offender, including adults in a position of trust or authority.
      • Develop recommendations for strategies, best practices, and resources that could be used by law enforcement agencies to determine whether offenders alleged to have committed a crime involving sexual contact should also be investigated for potential child sexual abuse material crimes.