Former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow Urges Congress to Empower ‘Warriors’ to Fight Child Sexual Exploitation

Witnesses John Madsen, Jim Cole, Tim Tebow, and Camille Cooper are sworn in before testifying in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance on Capitol Hill, on March 6, 2024. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

Former Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is calling on Congress to approve a bill aimed at rescuing unidentified children who are suffering ongoing exploitation and sexual abuse.

During a March 6 House hearing on child abuse, Mr. Tebow told Congress his foundation, the Tim Tebow Foundation, is proposing new legislation that will “enhance the capability to identify and locate” tens of thousands of unidentified children who are ongoing victims of abuse, rape and torture.

“There are so many frontline warriors and heroes, but there just aren’t enough and we need to support them. We need more of them to get to these 50,000 boys and girls,” he said.

“The bill’s intent is to build a team that has the funding, the support, the training, and the technology so they can get to these 50,000” children.”

According to the foundation’s proposed victim identification bill, the team would have expert analysts to locate and protect the children seen in sexually abusive imagery at the global level.

At the same time, the legislation proposes a raft of measures, such as creating a position focused exclusively on victim identification within law enforcement and funding to deploy these analysts around the world.

An expansion of Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) and Interpol’s training capabilities, along with modernizing the International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) image and video database is also suggested. The ICSE database is an intelligence and investigative tool that helps victim identification specialists worldwide analyze and compare child sexual abuse images.

Mr. Tebow and his Tim Tebow Foundation urged the public to prioritize Child Exploitation and Victim Identification initiatives and asked Congress to ensure bipartisan support for these efforts.

During his address to Congress, Mr. Tebow also read out a letter from a child victim who he said was raped almost every night for seven years. In the letter, she asked, “Can someone please rescue me?”

According to Mr. Tebow now is the time to act, and “Hear and answer her call.”

“Every one of those boys and girls is worth us answering the call and doing everything we can so they can experience the faith, hope and love that they deserve, not the bondage and torture they’re in right now,” he said.

“We have to do more than talk about it; we have to act,” Mr. Tebow added.

Some efforts have already been made to address this issue.

In August last year, HIS conducted Operation Renewed Hope, the first of its kind to ever be led on American soil. International law enforcement agencies joined forces to find previously unknown victims of online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

The investigators identified 311 probable identifications of previously unknown victims, including 14 positive contacts and several confirmed victim rescues from active abuse.

Mr. Tebow applauded the operation but said it was only a “tiny dent” in the broader problem. According to him, more than half of the children discovered during Operation Renewed Hope were in the United States.

“That means there’s thousands of boys and girls that are starving for hope in our own backyards and we have the chance to bring hope to those who are starving for it, if we are willing,” he said.