LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today joined United States Attorney Martin Estrada, Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto and other federal and local law enforcement officials to announce an ongoing significant collaborative effort aimed at combating human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children on the Figueroa Corridor in South Los Angeles. The leaders also announced recent arrests as a result of this initiative.
“Often, people think of human trafficking as something that happens only in other countries, but it happens in our own City,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “This is an issue that community leaders and former foster youth have been working to fight back against for decades and today’s announcement continues a commitment to protecting children, many of whom have spent time in the child welfare system, and hold traffickers and abusers accountable. I thank our law enforcement partners, especially the hardworking officers of LAPD’s 77th Division, for their continued work on this important issue.”
“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. “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. It is imperative that we take an all-hands approach to stop the human trafficking happening right in our backyard.”
“We are so proud of this unprecedented strategic collaboration, with all of our justice partners leveraging their resources. We have made tremendous progress in our efforts to combat the human trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors that has plagued the Figueroa Corridor for far too long,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. “By disrupting the illegal activity and the businesses that have harbored it and with our U.S. Attorney taking the lead on federal felony prosecutions, we are declaring loud and clear that our children are not for sale, and our community will not be a hub for sex trafficking of minors.”
“From the local to the federal level, we're united and using every tool to end trafficking on Figueroa,” said Council President Pro-Tempore Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “There is an amplified energy to this mission from elected officials, City and federal agencies, and, most of all, the commitment on the ground from outreach workers, organizations, and families. Together, we will root out the systems that have exploited children in South LA for decades.”
“Our women, youth and communities deserve better, and this is just the beginning of our focused multi agency effort to stop human trafficking along the Figueroa Corridor,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi. “I am grateful to our federal, state and local partners who have come together with the same vision and tenacity on this topic.”
As a community organizer, Mayor Bass worked to organize neighbors, community members and former foster youth to combat trafficking on the Figueroa Corridor. In Congress, Mayor Bass worked on the issue of sex trafficking, reauthorizing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which provides a three-pronged approach that includes prevention, protection and prosecution. The Mayor also led reform efforts to reform the child welfare system. Current and former foster youth are disproportionately impacted by sex trafficking and homelessness due to system failures that do not provide vital support to avoid these tragic results.
The regional initiative features federal and local law enforcement working together to target human traffickers and those who perpetuate illegal sex work, especially involving children, and helps survivors, often times children, find opportunities and help get them off the streets. Click here to read more about the criminal cases announced today.
Any member of the public who has information related to child sex crimes is encouraged to call the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565 or report tips online at https://tips.fbi.gov.