The United States broke ground in the fight against child sex trafficking by arresting 281 pimps and rescuing 168 children from different parts of the country with their Federal Bureau of Investigation - Operation Cross Country VIII.

Christian churches have rallied across America to pray for an end to the ongoing sex trafficking happening in America. Operation Cross Country VIII took place in 106 cities across 54 FBI divisions, the bureau announced Monday. Children ranging from the ages of 13-years-old to 16-years-old were rescued. Some of the children were missing from juvenile welfare systems.

The CEO and president of NCMEC John Ryan said "Operation Cross Country reveals that children are being targeted and sold for sex in America every day,"

The largest number of youths rescued in one location was 18 in Denver, and 13 in Chicago. Phoenix had the most arrests of pimps at 21, followed by Jackson, Mississippi, at 19, the FBI has publicly said.

"The lesson of Operation Cross Country is that our children are not for sale and we will respond and crush these pimps who would crush these children," FBI Director James Comey told a news conference.

"Child sex traffickers create a living nightmare for their adolescent victims," Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, said in a statement. "They use fear and force and treat children as commodities of sex to be sold again and again. This operation puts traffickers behind bars and rescues kids from their nightmare so they can start reclaiming their childhood."

Pastor Jim Cymbala of the mega church in New York, The Brooklyn Tabernacle, celebrated the victory with his church at their Tuesday night service. Still he urged the church to continue to pray for all of the children still out their being victimized by sex trafficking.

U.S. Department of Justice reported that approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the United States. Claiming that a pimp can make $150,000-$200,000 per child each year and the average pimp has 4 to 6 girls. Polarisproject.org states that the average victim may be forced to have sex up to 20-48 times a day.

Department Of Justice identified that the top twenty human trafficking jurisdictions in the country are in Houston, El Paso, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Las Vegas,? New York, Long Island, ?New Orleans,? Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Phoenix, Richmond,? San Diego, San Francisco, St Louis, Seattle, and ?Tampa. 

The operation is part of a larger initiative. The various cross-country operations have rescued around 3,400 children and led to 1,450 convictions, more than a dozen of which have come with life sentences in prison and a seizure of 3.1 million dollars, to date.

(Photo : Twitter/SharedHopeInternational )