Los Angeles teams up with feds to crack down on Sacramento-enabled prostitution

(The Center Square) - Los Angeles teamed up with the United States Attorney’s office to crack down on a 3.5 mile stretch of Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles federal prosecutors call “ground zero for human trafficking,” where many children are lured in with drugs and alcohol and forced into prostitution.

While many welcome the assistance of federal prosecutors, local elected officials blame a 2022 statewide law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom making “loitering with the intent to commit prostitution” no longer a misdemeanor offense.

“This is another soft on crime bill out of Sacramento leading to more crime on the streets of Los Angeles, and unfortunately in many cases it’s women and vulnerable people who are the victims of this,” said City of Los Angeles Councilwoman Traci Park to The Center Square in an earlier interview. “I’m very encouraged to see LAPD’s focus on recovering victims out of this heinous business but it’s unfortunate that lawmakers don’t anticipate the consequences of many of the laws they pass.”

Bill author Sen. Scott Wiener, D–San Francisco, argued having loitering to commit prostitution a misdemeanor crime “failed to protect public safety, in addition to contributing to the discrimination on the basis of gender, race, class and perceived sex worker status – in particular, targeting Black women and members of the transgender community,” and that his bill “simply eliminates an anti-loitering offense that results in the legal harassment of LGTBQ+, Black, and Brown communities for simply existing and looking like a “sex worker” to law enforcement.”

Last September — one year ago — the US Attorney’s Office, the Department of Children and Family Services, local nonprofits, and city elected officials, LAPD, and the LAC City Attorney’s Office announced a new program called the “Figueroa Initiative” to help victims of human trafficking.

Today’s announcement of three new cases against criminals forcing children as young as 13 years old suggests the initiative is moving forward with combating human trafficking.

“The Figueroa Corridor area is ground zero for human trafficking and victims are abused and exploited there every day,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada in a statement. “With this initiative, we are combining federal and local resources to focus on prosecuting more cases federally, particularly those involving victims who are children, and coordinating with our local partners to hold perpetrators accountable

With hundreds of prostitutes on the area’s streets, including as many as “10 girls on the corner, condoms on the ground,” it’s not clear if this is enough.

A bill to strengthen penalties for buyers of child prostitution passed the legislature and now heads to Newsom’s desk for approval. California Democrats forcibly added amendments against Grove’s wishes to protect first-time offenders by making purchasing sex from 16- and 17-year-olds a misdemeanor and making buying sex from children 15 years or younger a "wobbler" that cannot include prison time, and the California Department of Finance officially opposed the bill for being too expensive by sending more criminals to prison.