Former NFL player Tim Tebow has been lobbying Congress for more than two years to allocate more resources to a Homeland Security Investigations unit that focuses on child exploitation cases.
Yet it was a chance encounter in April at a gala for a pro-life pregnancy resource center that led Mr. Tebow to the lawmaker who would help get it done.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Mr. Tebow and their wives were featured speakers at the gala.
“Tim was chatting to me, and he said, ’I could really use your help on this bill called the Renewed Hope Act,’” Mr. Hawley, Missouri Republican, said in an interview with The Washington Times. “He said, ’I’ve gotten through the House, but we’ve never been able to get any traction in the Senate.’”
The senator had not heard of the bill, so he asked Mr. Tebow to describe it to him.
The primary goal of the Renewed Hope Act is to dramatically expand HSI’s Child Exploitation Investigations Unit by hiring at least 200 investigators and forensic analysts to help identify and rescue victims of child sex abuse and trafficking.
Mr. Tebow “walks me through it, and he said, ’Will you help me?’ And I said, ’Absolutely. I will absolutely help you,’” Mr. Hawley recalled.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary crime and counterterrorism subcommittee called Mr. Tebow to testify in March, along with other experts on child exploitation.
The hearing helped raise awareness of the issue. An Interpol database has more than 89,000 unidentified victims of online child sexual abuse, and only a few dedicated government analysts are working to identify them so they can be rescued, Mr. Tebow testified.
Two weeks later, Mr. Hawley brought up the issue during the confirmation hearing for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Mr. Hawley recalled Mr. Mullin saying, “You know, we would love to get after this, but we don’t have the manpower. We need you guys to give us the manpower.”
In a slow-moving Congress, Mr. Hawley began searching for a legislative vehicle to allocate the necessary funds.
The opportunity arose quickly as Republicans, facing a Democratic blockade on funding immigration enforcement agencies, used the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process to send $70 billion to the Department of Homeland Security.
HSI and its Child Exploitation Investigations Unit are housed under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of the two agencies funded under the Secure America Act.
Mr. Hawley, who sits on both committees charged with drafting the bill, pitched Mr. Mullin, the White House, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, on the child exploitation investigations being a vital function of the Homeland Security Department that should be funded under the measure.
“They all agreed, so it’s in the bill,” Mr. Hawley said.
The bill specifically earmarked $108.5 million for HSI to “hire, pay, and equip additional child exploitation investigators and forensic analysts” to identify and rescue victims and expand coordination with state and local law enforcement.
Congress gave final approval to the Secure America Act, which included the measure, on Tuesday, and President Trump signed it into law Wednesday.
“This is going to be the biggest surge of anti-child trafficking effort, I think, in the federal government’s history,” Mr. Hawley said.
The $108.5 million is enough to hire the 200 child exploitation investigators and forensic analysts envisioned under the Renewed Hope Act. It would also fund a new program to train state and local law enforcement to assist in the effort.
Mr. Tebow was unavailable for an interview but issued a statement thanking congressional leaders “for getting this lifesaving legislation over the finish line.”
“My prayer is that hope is renewed for many more boys and girls, and that their stories will be different because of this legislation,” he said. “When we come together, real change can happen — and this is just the beginning.”
Although Mr. Tebow’s time in the NFL was not as illustrious as his college career, he built a reputation for being outspoken about his Christian faith. His habit of dropping to one knee and praying before football games became known as “Tebowing.”
It is his faith that has inspired Mr. Tebow’s philanthropic work focused on child trafficking and exploitation — and that inspired the name of the Renewed Hope Act.
“The biblical form of hope means to look forward with confidence, expectation and anticipation,” Mr. Tebow told The Times in 2024, when the bill was first introduced. “Because we get to hold on to God’s promises even in the midst of disappointment, chaos, tragedy and hardship.”
Mr. Tebow and Mr. Hawley’s work is not finished.
The senator said he plans to hold follow-up hearings on HSI’s expansion of the child exploitation unit and see whether Congress needs to provide any additional help.
“There’s always more to do, because this is a massive problem,” Mr. Hawley said. “The number of online images of exploitation is growing, the number of traffickers is growing, which is why this surge, which will be permanent, is so necessary.”
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