Professor Catherine Powell co-wrote an article with researcher Rebecca Hughes published in Just Security about President Trump using the issue of human trafficking, specifically the trafficking of women, to leverage support for polarizing immigration policies.
Take, for instance, Trump’s attempts to establish himself as a crusader against human trafficking– one who is especially determined to address sex trafficking. On multiple occasions, Trump has lamented to reporters that traffickers are viciously exploiting migrant women at the U.S.-Mexico border. His favorite anecdote involves women and duct tape. “Women are tied up, they’re bound, duct tape put around their faces, around their mouths,” he remarked at a January press conference. Though Trump has trotted out multiple versions of this story – in some cases with eerily specific and salacious details – experts caution that it is “divorced from reality.”
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In reality, a wall, whether physical or bureaucratic, is not the answer to human trafficking. However, if Trump is truly committed to addressing trafficking in persons, he has the position and resources to do so.First, to build bipartisan momentum for anti-trafficking efforts, Trump should detach them from his administration’s polarizing immigration agenda. Second, Trump should strengthen relationships with key international partners and work with them to combat trafficking. Instead of cutting foreign assistance to Northern Triangle countries, his administration should double-down on efforts to address the corruption, violence, and poverty that fuel migration and increase people’s vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation. Trump should also strengthen U.S.-Mexico relations and encourage cross-border cooperation to dismantle trafficking and hold perpetrators accountable. Finally, to ensure that survivors receive the support they need, Trump should rescind policies that intimidate victims of trafficking with the threat of deportation and restore domestic violence as grounds for asylum.