More than 100 children have been rescued from the clutches of pedophiles after a massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency raid.

The ground-breaking investigation - named 'Operation Sunflower' - was executed America-wide between November 2012 and the first week of December, and resulted in 245 arrests.

A total of 123 sexually exploited children were identified by ICE agents working with Homeland Security Investigations by targeting people who own, trade and produce child pornography.

Of those, 44 victims were rescued from their abusers and another 55 were saved from being exploited by people they knew outside the home. Another 24 victims were identified as adults who were preyed on as children.