In a prime-time response to President Joe Biden ‘s State of the Union speech last week, a survivor of sex trafficking slammed former president Donald Trump ‘s ally Republican Sen. Katie Britt’s misrepresentation of her story.
The survivor claims that the Trump ally used her terrifying experience solely for political gain . “In fact, I hardly ever cooperate with politicians because it seems to me that they only want an image. They only want a photo, and that to me is not fair,” Karla Jacinto Romero shot back at Britt after CNN asked her about the Alabama senator’s motive.
‘NOT FAIR AT ALL’: SEX TRAFFICKING VICTIM SAYS SEN. KATIE BRITT DISTORTED HER STORY FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES The woman whose story of being sex trafficked as a child was used in Katie Britt’s SOTU rebuttal speech has said her horrific ordeal was misused by Britt. GOP Sen. Katie… pic.twitter.com/AIkXPLxNKE
— Max (@massahouse) March 11, 2024
In an interview conducted in her native Spanish, Jacinto expressed her desire for lawmakers to show greater empathy towards “the issue of human trafficking because there are millions of girls and boys who disappear all the time,” HuffPost reported.
Explaining that she’s been working “as a spokesperson” for many victims who don’t have a voice, Jacinto added that Britt’s response was offensive to victims and survivors who have really suffered. “People who are really trafficked and abused, as she [Britt] mentioned. And I think she [Britt] should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude,” Jacinto slammed the Republican senator.
I got in touch w/ Karla Jacinto, the Mexican who Sen. Katie Britt featured in her SOTU rebuttal, falsely implying she’d been trafficked into the US during Biden’s presidency. She didn’t appreciate being politicized. “The work I do is not a game.” https://t.co/qjaRoJEc2K
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) March 10, 2024
The Washington Post was informed by Britt’s communication director that the story was indeed about Jacinto, although Jacinto was not specifically named in her address. Britt recounted the tale on March 7, during the Republican rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union speech.
“When I first took office, I did something different. I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas, where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me. She had been sex trafficked by the cartels starting at age 12,” before saying, “President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable.”
Many people have pointed out several lies in Britt’s account.
When Biden was still a senator, Jacinto’s experience took place over four years in the George W. Bush administration. It also happened in Mexico, not the United States as Britt said, and a pimp, not a drug cartel, was the one who trafficked her. Jacinto had also provided testimony back in 2015 before Congress on her experiences.
Britt later admitted the story was not accurate.
When Shannon Bream of Fox News questioned Britt on March 10 about whether she intended to suggest that the tale had occurred when Biden was president, she said, “No, Shannon,” before attacking the administration’s immigration policy again, offering no clarification on why she would misuse a survivor’s story like that.
A social media user slammed Britt on X, saying, “Sen Katie Britt misused a victimized woman’s story to stoke GOP ‘s fear of immigrants tactic.”