Operation Limelight USA (OLLUSA) is HSI’s premier Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) outreach and education program. OLLUSA was created in 2017 to educate and provide outreach on the health, criminal, and immigration consequences of FGM to the traveling public at international airports across the U.S. Since its creation, HSI OLLUSA has provided outreach and education at 15 airports across the U.S. reaching thousands of passengers. OLLUSA has been recognized both domestically and internationally as an important outreach effort to combat FGM by the Women in Federal Law Enforcement and the World Class Policing Awards.
The HSI-led Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center is the primary U.S. government entity charged with responding to allegations of FGM and supports investigations into allegations of FGM committed by domestic practitioners, parents who intend to subject their daughters to FGM and instances of taking a child abroad for the purposes of committing FGM. FGM is recognized internationally as a form of gender-based violence, a serious human rights abuse, and when practiced on children, a serious form of child abuse. FGM on children is a crime under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 116) and in 41 states.
Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center
