In an incredible display of determination to protect the vulnerable, a retired Missouri State Trooper worked alongside personnel from over 150 law enforcement agencies to target Chinese-organized human trafficking networks across the United States, leading to the rescue of countless victims.
For context, in a May 30, 2025, interview with The Blaze’s Candace Hathaway, Dan Nash, founder of the Human Trafficking Training Center and a retired Missouri state trooper, went into detail about Operation Coast to Coast, a coordinated law enforcement initiative that targeted illicit massage businesses around the country in an effort to stop a large-scale Chinese-run human trafficking ring.
During the interview, Nash explained that illicit massage parlors that perpetrate human trafficking are incredibly prevalent in the United States, explaining, “In California and New York, they have more illicit massage business (sic) than they do Starbucks and McDonald’s combined.” In addition, Nash added that many law enforcement officers are unequipped to deal with human trafficking cases, saying, “Most people think that the police officers are trained, but they’re not. They don’t get this kind of training.”
In addition, Nash emphasized the importance of equipping law enforcement agencies to rescue victims of human trafficking and interact with those who have been traumatized, saying, “We’ve not been giving our law enforcement officers the tools that they need to battle trafficking, and that’s why trafficking continues to increase.”
Moreover, the former Missouri state trooper explained that part of his work in equipping law enforcement officers to handle human trafficking rescue missions is education about the traumatic effects of being trafficked. He told Hathaway, “Part of our training is explaining to law enforcement that these actually are victims, showing them why they are victims, showing them about the forced criminality component that is taking place and how to actually get to the trafficker when they find these victims.”
Furthermore, Nash added that research backs up the reality that those trapped in human trafficking rings truly are victims, explaining, “We know the academic research is very, very clear, both in Europe [and] in the United States, that some 90[%] to 93% of all persons involved in commercial sex are actually being trafficked or under third-party control.” He added, “Each [illicit massage business] will have two to four trafficking victims. So, you can do the math. That’s a lot of trafficking victims.”
Tragically, Nash shed light on the reality that the majority of victims of human trafficking in the United States are never found or rescued, saying, “There are hundreds of thousands of people trafficked in the US every year, and 99% are never identified.” However, Nash made it clear that he and the others involved in the operation were doing everything in their power to send “a clear message to traffickers that this crime isn’t going to be tolerated in our community.”
Concluding the interview, Nash emphasized the importance of collaboration in the effort to rescue victims of human trafficking, saying that the most important takeaway from Operation Coast to Coast was that “not any one person or group can stop this human trafficking.” According to The Blaze, the operation led to the arrests of 39 suspected human traffickers across 14 states.
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