Tim Tebow Testified on Child Trafficking at Hawley Senate Committee
Tim Tebow, a former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback, is committed to exposing and stopping widespread child sex trafficking in the United States. Earlier this week, he outlined the problem in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which is led by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Two years ago, he said, an estimated 20,000 victims of child sex trafficking were unidentified. However, investigative partnerships through the Tim Tebow Foundation found that this number was grossly underestimated, with more than 57,000 children yet to be identified.
“Every day, [these children] are praying that we are going to respond,” Tebow said, according to “USA Today.” “But how are we going to respond?”
His testimony focused on child exploitation in digital spaces. He challenged the subcommittee to identify games federal investigation systems to more accurately assess child trafficking crimes.
Hawley has long backed Tebow’s objectives. In December, he called child trafficking a “scourge on our society.” Hawley was one of the first people to challenge the subcommittee to change how it looks for these crimes. Hawley said the government currently lacks the funding and the capacity to identify victims. “These are children who our government could identify and rescue if we had the will and the resources to do it,” he said.
Staca Shehan, vice president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s Analytical Services Division, said her organization received more than 21 million reports of child sexual exploitation in 2025, with more than 61 million pieces of media covering the reports.
The Tim Tebow Foundation works in several areas but particularly in anti-human trafficking/child exploitation, having assisted in rescuing more than 3,500 survivors of child sexual exploitation. The foundation operates in 60 countries with 46 safe houses worldwide for abused children. Its stated mission is to “bring faith, hope and love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.” For more information, visit www.timtebowfoundation.org
–Alan Goforth
