A nation-wide sweep last week by the FBI netted the arrest of almost 300 human traffickers and rescued 168 underage trafficking victims. “Operation Cross Country” was carried out in 106 cities across the U.S., the 8th such sting of its kind by the FBI. Since the beginning of this operation, over 3,600 children have been rescued.

These are not children living in some faraway place, far from everyday life,” FBI Director James Comey said in a press conference Monday. “These are our children. On our streets. Our truck stops. Our motels. These are America’s children.”

There are a multitude of reasons that children get swept up into human trafficking. Here in the U.S., traffickers learn to prey on vulnerable young people: the lonely, the outcast, those with little or no family support. In the video below, Nicole talks about her experience as a trafficked person.