re: 84 kids rescued, 120 human traffickers arrested in FBI sting,

and now the downside

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In Cheektowaga, New York, local police teamed up with the FBI to arrest five women ages 18 to 30 for prostitution. In Kansas, the Salina Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI worked together to take down two women, ages 22 and 26, for advertising sexual services online.

This is pretty typical of how Operation Cross Country works. During last year's efforts, nearly 1,000 people, almost exclusively women, were arrested for prostitution with the help of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies. Meanwhile less than a dozen people were booked on federal charges—a batch of prosecutions that included zero cases of sex trafficking a minor by force. But several people on were on the hook for violating the Mann Act, a Progressive Era law criminalizing the transportation of someone across state lines for prostitution or any "immoral purpose."

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quote:

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It's too early to tell how many people were arrested this year, but early news reports suggest that once again, plenty of adult women were arrested, jailed, and face criminal charges—felonies in some places—simply for trying to make a living. The only victims in these cases are the sex workers themselves, who have any money they have on then taken by the cops; who may spend days in jail (and away from families or day jobs) before even going to court, and more time after; who have their names and mugshots plastered all over local news and online (sometimes in conjunction with degrading details and comments from cops); and who face court fees, fines, and a criminal record.

That record can prove a significant barrier to future employment. One young woman who told me her story said she dreamed of being a nurse, but a prostitution arrest at age 18 "shattered" that ambition. During the sting, she removed a small bag of marijuana from her bra as she was getting undressed, so police booked her for not just prostitution but felony drug possession too. Now she can't get the student loans she would need to go back to school, and she's barred from even getting a bartender's license.

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it's not that many children

it's not that many people who are being "sex trafficked"

it's mostly adult women who are prostitutes and engaging in behavior that should be legal