San Diego pimps are using fear of retaliation against local residents to control neighborhoods instead of staying silent over a parade of nearly naked women working the streets, in the heart of a prostitution hotspot, officials say. said one manager.
“The prostitutes will come into the premises and say, ‘What are you looking at?’ and ‘Stop staring.’ And they will either hurt or harm the prostitutes or ‘take care of them.’ “It goes into a little bit of detail about calling a prostitute to do something for you,” a San Diego business owner who spoke to FOX News Digital on condition of anonymity said about the situation with prostitutes. We spoke to managers and employees in San Diego, near the border with National City.
The prostitutes reportedly told some managers, “‘If you want to see me, you have to pay,’ in an apparent threat.”
The business owner said threats of physical attacks, destruction of property and theft by prostitutes keep local residents from going to the police. A law that took effect in early 2023 also prevents residents and businesses from calling police when tensions escalate, but business owners and other business owners in the state say the law limits police arrests. they claim.
“They control the neighborhood,” he said of prostitutes.
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Barely clothed women are taking over neighborhoods in San Diego, locals say. (Fox News Digital)
Safer road laws
California Governor Gavin Newsom In July 2022, he signed Senate Bill 357, the Safer Streets for All Act, which repeals the previous law prohibiting prostitution loitering. The bill was championed as a bill that would help protect transgender women from media targeting of police. This law entered into force on January 1, 2023.
“I introduced this bill because the crime of loitering disproportionately impacts Black and brown women and members of the LGBTQ community,” the governor said when signing the bill.
“To be clear, this bill does not legalize prostitution; it merely revokes provisions in the law that have led to the unjustified harassment of women and transgender adults. I am signing this bill, but we must be cautious.”My administration will monitor crime and prosecution trends for potential unintended consequences and I intend to take action to alleviate this. ”
According to FBI data, up to 8,000 victims are trafficked annually in San Diego County, including not only women and underage girls, but also boys and LGBT youth. According to the San Diego County Attorney’s Office website, as many as 50 percent of youth trafficked in the United States are boys, and in the case of sex trafficking, the majority are between the ages of 11 and 13.
“Young people who identify as LGBTQ+ are 7.4 times more likely to experience acts of sexual violence than straight or cisgender youth,” the DA’s office says on its website.
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Women stand outside their cars in San Diego. One of the women appears to be working in a car. (Fox News Digital)
The law has since drawn heavy criticism from local residents, elected officials, and police, as pimps and prostitutes are emboldened to walk openly on the streets without fear of police intervention. They argue that this law is causing a spiral in prostitution.
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Women and girls are ‘blatantly trafficked for sex’
Late last month, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan (R) released an opinion piece calling for the law to be repealed, highlighting how human trafficking is surging alongside prostitution.
“Girls as young as 13 are openly trafficked for sex on the streets of San Diego County. In fact, women of all ages are openly trafficked for sex. They are forced to walk the streets while their every body is being watched.” One big reason is that California recently abolished prostitution charges with Senate Bill 357.” Stephen said in an article published in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Stephan’s office told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Stephan “remains a strong believer that this bill should be repealed.”
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A woman stands on a San Diego street wearing high heels and revealing clothing. (Fox News Digital)
The Immigration Crisis and the Impact of Cartels
The National Police Department said in an interview on Fox News earlier this month that the majority of sex trafficking victims on San Diego’s streets are local residents, and about 20% were brought across the border.
“There’s no question that cartels have an impact on sex trafficking, but we’re starting to see that it’s more of our street gangs that are working for the cartels,” Stephens told FOX earlier this month. He said this in a news interview.
A convoy of cars crossing into the United States at the San Ysidro crossing in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, on October 4, 2022 (Photo by Guillermo ARIAS/AFP) (Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images)
The San Ysidro Port of Entry, between San Diego and Tijuana, is the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere, according to the General Services Administration. An estimated 70,000 vehicles cross the northern border every day, with an additional 20,000 pedestrians crossing the border, the agency details.
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A woman wears what appears to be just underwear in San Diego. (Fox News Digital)
San Diego business owners say the spike in prostitution and general crime is an “absolute byproduct” of human trafficking coming across the southern border, noting that the city is one of the worst human trafficking hotspots in the United States. He pointed out the reports showing this.
In an op-ed, Stephens wrote that when Governor Newsom signed the bill, he “did so with obvious trepidation.”
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan participates in the 2021 Coronado Independence Day Parade on July 3, 2021 in Coronado, California. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
“The governor has promised to monitor for unintended consequences and to act when we see such consequences,” she said, adding that she is calling on the governor to “repeal SB 357 and eliminate sex traffickers who line the pockets of human traffickers.” We also called for tougher penalties.” ”
Fox News Digital did not respond to a request for comment from Newsom’s office about the op-ed and the local outcry over prostitution and human trafficking.
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A San Diego business owner said one of his employees recently witnessed a human trafficking attempt firsthand. The employee’s 18-year-old daughter was coming out of her father’s apartment to grab something from her car when a prostitute approached her.
The daughter said, “When I went outside to get something from my car, a pimp approached me and threatened me.” [the dad] I had to walk there to save her,” the business owner said.
Locals say San Diego’s prostitution problem has increased since California’s controversial SB 357 case began making headlines. (Fox News Digital)
The business owner emphasized that while prostitution has long been a problem in San Diego, it only accounts for “5%” or “10%” of the prostitution now regularly seen in America’s greatest city. . Business owners and other sources previously interviewed by Fox Digital said prostitution began to skyrocket the day Newsom signed the bill, and in fact before it took effect last year.
Before the law took effect, “police officers had the power to arrest anyone,” the business owner said, adding that pimps would move women to different locations for a week or two before returning to the same location. He said he would return it.
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SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 4: Panoramic view of downtown San Diego and San Diego Bay on July 4, 2023 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
“They weren’t brazen or bold. They hid behind cars and came out at night,” the business owner said.
Now, even in heavy rains like those seen in Southern California last week, prostitutes will remain on the streets wearing “fishnet stockings and G-strings,” waiting for their errands.
Police in San Diego and other prostitution hotspots across the state have conducted large-scale sting operations this year against some sex rings, including a San Diego massage parlor that operated a sex-for-money business for years. carried out. Last month, more than 500 pimps, jocks, and sex trafficker suspects were arrested in a statewide anti-human trafficking operation, and dozens of adults and 11 children were rescued from human trafficking.
Shopping like “ordering a hamburger”
In his op-ed, Stephen likened easy access to sex to the drive-through line at a fast-food restaurant.
“What I saw was an open sex market with young women barely wearing any clothes, and prostitutes waiting in their cars as casually as if they were ordering a hamburger at a drive-through. “The traffickers, prostitutes and buyers carried out their business with total impunity,” she said of what she witnessed.
Alleged prostitutes in National City, Calif., will take to the streets to help attract johns, according to the city’s mayor. (Ron Morrison)
The business owner quipped that it was “ridiculous” that prostitutes were lining up to pay for sex, and that the prostitution operation functioned much like a drive-through line.
“When you try to pull out of the parking lot after 5 p.m., there are 15 to 20 cars going up and down the street, and you can’t even back up and go home. They’re pretty much where they are. . Just point to an empty parking lot, pick up a prostitute, get all the services you need and go.”
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Safe Streets behavior is a ‘total failure’
In addition to repealing the law, the business owner argued that Johnson and others should be prosecuted more and more to solve the burgeoning prostitution problem, and cited rising conviction rates in San Diego, which is overseen by the city attorney. He claimed he wanted it. , not Stefan DA.
“If you put pressure on prostitutes, you take away your customer base. That’s your supply and demand. If you don’t employ prostitutes, you give them money. There’s no one to pay them, and the prostitutes can’t pay the prostitutes.” Pimps,” the owner said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference Thursday, March 16, 2023, in Sacramento, California. (AP Photo/Ricci Pedroncelli)
Business owners say the law has led to a boom in the prostitution business, while young children in the San Diego area are forced to walk on prostitutes’ used “by-products” on their way to school and are exposed to prostitutes. He added that he was even seen wearing expensive clothes to school. I’m on the bus.
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When asked if he had a message for Newsom, the business owner said, “Listen to every prosecutor in the state.” “This is an utter failure. It’s not helping, it’s hurting. The human trafficking aspect is hurting the girls on the streets. Prostitutes are attracting more and more unfortunate women onto the streets.” You’re given the ability to take them out.’ So I think what they set out to do was accomplish exactly the opposite. ”
“Why do we have to speak anonymously and without names? If this is a road safety law, why don’t those who are complaining about this feel safe?”
