Acting Attorney General Appoints National Coordinator for Human Trafficking Cases

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appointed Alessandra Serano as the Justice Department's national coordinator for human trafficking and child exploitation cases on Wednesday. Serano has worked at the Justice Department in various roles since 2003, most recently as senior counsel to the deputy attorney general and in the Eastern District of Virginia.

She also completed a temporary assignment with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

U.S. Attorney's Offices and two Criminal Division offices. The position is based in the deputy attorney general's office. Serano will also work with the Office of Justice Programs on grants to victims services organizations.

Serano said tracking missing unaccompanied minors will be a priority, following a Justice Department announcement last week about efforts to locate some 300,000 such children. She noted concern that some may have been trafficked. "I'm not saying that all of these kids have been trafficked, but I wouldn't doubt that many of them are.

And one kid trafficked is one too many," she said. " Recent cases include a guilty plea in Florida and a 30-year sentence in Maryland tied to that group. She also noted rising cases involving artificial intelligence-generated images of children. Acting Attorney General Blanche said the appointment sends a message to predators.

"Ending human trafficking and the exploitation of children has been and remains one of the highest priorities of the Department of Justice," he said.