Dem anti-prostitution bill oils Republican deportation machine

OPINION – The last few weeks, my team and I have been on the frontlines, providing medic services in our beloved Los Angeles as the federal government conducts mass kidnappings and perpetrates violence on our immigrant communities and U.S. citizens alike.

The Trump Administration is waging a war – with military troops on the ground – on Los Angeles and the rest of California because we refuse to hand our migrant neighbors over to unidentifiable goons who spit on the Constitution and due process protections we are all afforded in this country. Amidst this climate, AB 379 will cause devastating and irreparable harm in our communities, especially among migrant sex workers and survivors.

AB 379’s main provisions are two-fold. First, the bill allows a person who solicits a 16 or 17 year old to be charged with a felony, unless there is less than a three year age difference. Second, it creates the new crime of loitering with the intent to solicit commercial sex. Importantly, this second provision is not limited to solicitation of minors, it includes solicitation of consenting adults.

Although public discourse about AB 379 has been largely focused on the first provision, its anti-loitering provision is far more nefarious and threatens to reignite discriminatory policing practices that sweep up victims and will result in severe immigration consequences for anyone who is not a U.S. citizen. Depending on the individual circumstances, an anti-loitering conviction could make a non-citizen – including visa and green card holders – deportable, inadmissible, or ineligible for naturalization under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

Simple everyday interactions could result in someone’s harassment, arrest, and conviction because AB 379 hinges on suspicion of a crime rather than evidence of actual criminal activity.  AB 379 would make innocent Californians, including non-citizens, vulnerable to arrest and prosecution, for example, for beckoning to, contacting, or attempting to contact or stop pedestrians or other motorists because they are having car trouble. Someone could be circling an area looking for a friend or a parking spot. They could be present in an area known for prostitution because they live there, work there, or are meeting a friend.

Some may say that police won’t abuse the law to profile or target innocent bystanders, sex workers, or survivors, but we only need to look at how police have enforced similar laws in the past. Data shows that California police enforced a since-repealed law banning loitering with intent to engage in sex work in a discriminatory manner. Countless Black and Brown Californians and trans women were harassed, arrested, and charged for loitering with intent to engage in sex work at alarmingly disparate rates.

AB 379 is a new iteration but is actually broader than this prior anti-loitering law.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for marginalized communities. In February, one of our members, Linda Moran, a trans immigrant woman, was held hostage and trafficked in a hotel in Pacoima. She called 911 for help. When LAPD arrived they shot this survivor in the chest, handcuffed, and arrested her. I was with Linda when she passed, and am witness to the horror of her death when she was just calling the police for help.

Sadly, this is emblematic of how law enforcement treats survivors, and it is this same criminalization that fuels survivors’ deportations.

As federal agents brutalize civilians in LA and the rest of California, why are Democrats seeking to pass policy that will be leveraged by Trump?

AB 379, which is no doubt vulnerable to challenges on grounds that it violates Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, will oil the mass deportation machine and end up facilitating the human trafficking of migrants, including youth survivors. That’s because the bill will sow even more fear of law enforcement and push victims deeper into the shadows and into the clutches of their abusers, and further away from survivor-led services like the ones my organization provides.

Many migrant communities have already gone into hiding, fearful that leaving their house or any interaction with law enforcement could lead to their deportation and separation from their loved ones.

If California lawmakers care about public safety and want to protect teens, immigrants, and survivors, they will reject AB 379 and instead fund proven prevention programs like housing, basic income, and medical support for marginalized communities.

Soma Snakeoil is Executive Director/Cofounder of The Sidewalk Project, which specializes in services for street-based sex workers, survivors, and cis and trans women fleeing violence, and a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project and Blue Shield of California Foundation.