A sex-trafficking survivor highlighted in Alabama Senator Katie Britt’s State of the Union rebuttal says the GOP senator distorted her story for political purposes.
The woman, Karla Jacinto Romero, who lives in Mexico City, said she wasn’t even contacted about having her story used, Knewz.com has learned.
Speaking with CNN on Sunday, March 10, Romero said, “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.”
Britt never mentioned Romero by name during her Republican response in her March 7 rebuttal following President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. However, the Alabama senator said she had gone to Del Rio in Texas and spoken to a woman who had been sex trafficked by cartels from the age of 12. Britt then equated the woman’s story with the current administration’s border issues saying, “President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable.”
While Britt also never explicitly stated Romero’s experiences occurred in America, she appeared to imply it by saying of Romero’s story, “We wouldn’t be OK with this happening in a Third World country – this is the United States of America.”
However, Talking Points Memo journalist Jonathan Katz released a TikTok video that went viral. In it, he identified Romero and highlighted the inaccuracies in Britt’s story.
Britt’s communication director also confirmed that Britt was indeed speaking about Romero, the Washington Post reported.
Romero, it turns out, did meet Britt at the border in January 2023, but it was not a private encounter as Britt implied. Rather, it was with a group of government officials (including two other senators), and anti-human trafficking activists.
Speaking with CNN, Romero also confirmed she had been sex trafficked in Mexico – not in the United States – and that it had occurred between 2004-2008, during former President George W. Bush’s administration. Romero testified about her experiences in Congress in 2015.
“I work as a spokesperson for many victims who have no voice, and I really would like them to be empathetic — all the governors, all the senators — to be empathetic with the issue of human trafficking because there are millions of girls and boys who disappear all the time,” Romero told CNN. “I think [Britt] should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude.”
Romero was interviewed by CNN’s Rafael Romo. Romo said Romero told him, “Someone using my story and distorting it for political purposes is not fair at all.”
Separately on Sunday, Britt was grilled by Fox News Sunday host Shanon Bream about her story.
When asked if she meant to imply Romero’s experiences occurred under Biden’s watch, Britt responded, “I very specifically said, ‘This is what President Biden did during his first 100 days.’ Minutes after coming into office, he stopped all deportations, he halted construction of the border wall and he said, ‘I’m going to give amnesty to millions.’ Those types of things act as a magnet to help more and more people here.”
And when asked more specifically about the timeline regarding Romero, Britt doubled down, implying that she had made it clear she was speaking about something that had happened years ago.
“I very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12. I didn’t say teenager, I didn’t say a young woman – a grown woman,” Britt said.
The post Katie Britt’s Story About Sex-Trafficking Slammed by Survivor, Says Senator Was Inaccurate, Misleading in SOTU Rebuttal appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: Kelly Hartog
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