Part 153: The End of Human Trafficking? Governmental and Nonprofit Response

Published January 27, 2025. Updated January 31, 2025.

Jan 27, 2025

Photo of a motel entrance next to houses under street lights on South Figueroa Street after dark during a break in vehicle traffic by author (GoPro Hero 11 Black).

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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

The month of January has been National Human Trafficking Prevention Month by Presidential Proclamation every year since 2010. According to the U.S. State Department, “There are estimated to be more than 27.6 million people — adults and children — subjected to human trafficking around the world, including in the United States.” The challenge is believed to be particularly acute in Los Angeles, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announcing last September 2024 a special intergovernmental task force to target trafficking in the Figueroa Corridor of South Los Angeles. Primarily, what occurs in this notorious district of Los Angeles is sex trafficking.

A broader countywide effort, the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force (LARHTTF) received $695,898 for fiscal year 2024 from the Department of Justice for efforts targeting human labor trafficking broadly. Asked for comment on the progress of the Figueroa Corridor Human Trafficking Initiative, which has a special focus on the trafficking of minors, Ciaran McEvoy, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, provided updates on three previously highlighted cases. One individual has been sentenced to life in a federal correctional institute; two others are facing trial in March and June for their alleged crimes. Asked for comment, the City Attorney’s office reported having “assisted” 183 juviniles to date, the youngest of whom was only 13 years old, 22 adults, and having arrested or cited 193 perpetrators.

The City Attorney’s office also reports identifying loopholes in the law, which it is “working to stengthen as well.” According to Ivor Pine, a spokesman for City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, “Last year, the office secured a guilty verdict against a 49 year old male defendant, charged with three violations of the California Penal Code, including solicitation of prostitution from a minor, a 14 year old girl.” The Los Angeles Police Department, which has primary jurisdiction over the Figueroa Corridor, is planning a Human Trafficking Prevention and Resource Summit for February 25, 2025. According to Deputy Chief for South Bureau Emada Tingrides, the event is a first for the area, with LAPD previously holding a similar event in December in the Harbor District. LAPD is clearly ramping up its efforts. The LARHTTF is being primarily led by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which also operates in part of South Los Angeles. Mayor Karen Bass is reportedly involved with these efforts.

This seemingly impressive deployment of law enforcement and political power is unlikely to end the problem of human trafficking in Los Angeles. A recent field survey of the Figueroa Corridor counted more than 50 women between Imperial Highway and Vernon Avenue on a Monday night, and it was still early. LAPD’s event will feature, in addition to law enforcement agencies, new District Attorney Nathan Hochman, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Councilmember Curren Price. The City Attorney has made combating trafficking a high priority, and last October they filed yet another lawsuit targeting the Sun Motel as a hub for mayhem and sex trafficking. The case against Bullhead City Inn Corporation (Case No. 24STCV27099) alleges that a street gang controls the location, citing numerous recent calls for service, including in response to the discharge of an AK-47 rifle. Whether the lawsuit succeeds remains to be seen.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for March 17, 2025. The lawsuit alleges that the owners who have held the property since 2016 violated unfair competition, public nuisance, and red light abatement laws. The hearing will seemingly come after the departure of U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada, who championed the Figueroa initiative in addition to pursuing other public corruption cases in Los Angeles. Estrada, who recently compared his work ethic to the “Energizer Bunny” in an interview with Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, has been succeeded by Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph T. McNally, pending a new appointment by President Donald Trump. Reducing human trafficking isn’t a political issue to be bounced around.

In a recent interview over Zoom about the subject, Jamie Beck, Human Trafficking Expert Witness and Consultant, J.D. Beck Consulting, stated after noting anti-human trafficking legislation at the federal level in 2000 and in California in 2005 that "Human trafficking is a non-partisan issue. Beck, who also lectures in law at the University of Southern California, noted, There is no political party that claims to be in favor of human trafficking." A skilled practitioner in using a legal process known as vacatur to clear criminal records for victims, Beck believes that “we need to address the root causes of this issue.”

Doing so might not be so simple, though, because, as Beck noted, "When talking specifically about urban, domestic sex trafficking, many of the victims grew up in the same communities as their perpetrators.” Moreover, victims are often “family members, romantic partners, or spouses,” and particularly vulnerable are foster youth who have been roughly “one-third” of the approximately 300 people Beck has assisted with legal aid. Beck says that traffickers are effective at their exploitation because they offer “love, affection, and belonging.”

Money is also a factor. Jamie Beck highlighted research done in San Diego by Professor Ami Carpenter at the University of San Diego and Professor Jamie Gates at Point Loma Nazarene University that found “San Diego’s underground sex economy generated $810 million annually, an amount far greater than initially thought” as part of its study. Los Angeles is a significantly bigger market, and the total amount of revenue generated by this illicit economy is undoubtedly in the billions of dollars.

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) considered pursuing parallel research, but “unfortunately, the prevalence study... was never undertaken as it was never funded. According to a spokesperson, “CAST is very eager to get prevalence studies going in both Los Angeles and the State of California, but so far, nothing has been funded.” CAST’s goal is to “offer comprehensive, robust research on the annual number of victims, the nature of the trafficking (sexual exploitation vs. labor exploitation), demographic breakdowns of victims, and concentrations of victims in particular geographic areas within Los Angeles County” through such prevalence studies.

At the micro-level, money in the sex-trafficking trade is about survival. Those being trafficked are often given a quota to be earned and receive only a fraction of their earnings if lucky. Victims often lack the funding necessary to leave the sex trade even if they want to do so and fear retaliation from those who have trafficked them.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office held a webinar on January 15 entitled "Human Trafficking: Services Provided Through the Bureau of Victim Services.” For nearly 2 hours, an all-star panel of DA’s Office personnel, a representative of the California Victims Bureau, and non-profit service providers gave an unvarnished telling of how challenging the work to assist those who want to leave sex-trafficking is to conduct. First and foremost, it’s important to note, as Deputy in Charge of the Sex Crimes Division Jane Creighton did, that essentially “all traffickers are armed,” advising people not to approach those on the streets.

Jewell Baraka, a former victim herself and Navigator for the non-profit Journey Out, did note that some nonprofit providers do distribute care kits that include contact information. Still, for those not trained in outreach, attempts to contact those engaged in sex trafficking are extremely discouraged. Deatra Handy, Program Director for the Restoration Diversion Services, who leads an office along the infamous “Blade” in Compton on Long Beach Boulevard, described her approach to gaining the trust of victims, saying, “I’m a hugger,” noting that it creates lasting smiles.

Building trust takes compassion. Deatra Handy described how women who are working outside of gang control are known as "renegades,” stating that the lack of protection leaves women particularly at risk. It’s extremely important to understand though that it’s not just women who are trafficked, but men, and particularly boys as well. Non-profit providers play an important role in getting women out, with Handy stating that she’s served 90 women, with 11 of them being essentially rescued.

For such victims, financial relief can be obtained from the California Victims Compensation Board (CVCB) for 7 years from the date of the act occurring, and for those who were minors up to their 28th birthday. Lynda Gledhill, the Executive Director of the CVCB, stated that they’ve issued $4.1 million to victims, 25% of which went to Los Angeles County, and approximately $1.3 million to 80 victims. Gledhill said tersely about victims, that she knows “that there are more out there.”

Money alone though doesn’t make things right. Dr. Indhushree Rajan, a clinical psychologist, stated that many have post-traumatic stress disorder and that “PTSD is a psychological mechanism to keep safe.” About recovery, Jewell Baraka the Navigator with Journey Out, a well-known non-profit led by Dr. Stefany Powell, said with eternal optimism, “It’s a long process, rebuilding a life.”

Another non-profit doing incredible work in both California and abroad in the Philippines and Uganda is EverFree, created in 2021 by Dr. Kesley Morgan, building on more than a decade of experience in the field. EverFree seeks to both provide services and scale up survivor-led solutions to accelerate the end of trafficking. Morgan, as part of her Ph.D. program at the University of California, Irvine pioneered EverFree's Freedom Lifemap tool, which is “developed to redefine and streamline how care is provided to survivors of human trafficking.” The reform-minded organization is critical of the "rescuer-model" and “sensationalized narratives” favored by some nonprofits that seek to extract people from what’s essentially slavery, stating that “real freedom comes from empowering survivors to lead their own paths.”

Think of it as a life-planning tool to secure “long-term support, including housing, healthcare, and economic empowerment, ensuring survivors thrive beyond the headlines.” EverFree found that their effective rate is 1.65x more likely to improve their well-being, having served 1600 survivors globally through their Freedom Lifemap tool alone. EverFree works in partnership with the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, where the organization is based in San Juan Capistrano, California.

After my last story on this topic, EverFree found my work and invited me to one of their events to fundraise for this effort in Torrance, California. I’m not the least bit unconvinced that the burgeoning field of anti-trafficking work means there isn’t room for innovation in healing bodies and souls. EverFree states that they are “encouraged by a shift toward deeper interest in understanding and in evidence-based solutions, especially in prevention and survivor-led care.” Moreover, the nonprofit wants to “shift conversations toward prevention, scalable solutions, and systemic accountability, ensuring survivor perspectives are at the center of policy and resource allocation.”

The organization's goal is to "Ultimately...build a world where trafficking is eradicated and every survivor has the opportunity to thrive.” It’s easy to underestimate both the profitability and the stigmatization of human trafficking, but through continued innovation in service delivery and by evolving the conversation, groups like Journey Out and EverFree are critical to the success of the anti-trafficking movement, which promises “real freedom” for survivors. Groups like EverFree are essential for success.

Proponents of the sex trade often argue the opposite, that fact suggesting that there’s an extensive amount of choice involved, if not outright freedom of choice. For many of those living in areas such as the Figueroa Corridor, there’s little choice, with one commentor noting the District Attorney’s Office webinar that sometimes neighbors will complain about children being exposed to sex trafficking activity without understanding that the women involved are so often victims. Despite the activity, perhaps unsurprisingly, at least one developer has set their sights on the Figueroa Corridor. In housing hungry Los Angeles, the ability to develop projects in South Los Angeles, and especially in the heart of the Figueroa Corridor, may ultimately be limited not so much by demand as by supply. To date, most new development has steered clear of the area, and it’s unclear if even completed that new housing alone would change the character of the neighborhood much less end its reputation as a nexus of human trafficking in Los Angeles County and beyond.

Figueroa, known affectionately to some as “the Stroll,” has been a high-priority target for City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto, who will face re-election in 2026. Journalist Antonia Crane, writing in the Los Angeles Public Press in December 2023, wrote that by targeting motels in the area, she was “taking away physical indoor spaces, which could leave people engaged in sex work activities in the Figueroa Corridor economically bereft, traumatized, and more susceptible to assault and murder.” Crane, who is a Ph.D. candidate at USC and an advocate for sex workers, profiled the Sidewalk Project, which “provides extensive harm reduction services and outreach like overdose prevention and wound care.” One woman on Figueroa who described herself as a “renegade” told Crane, who had a car and an apartment, who worked there “for money to live.” Whether housing development would draw in businesses that would provide better jobs for the people actually already working the streets is highly questionable. Sadly, in our society, profits are simply extracted without an equal amount being invested in return.

Driving through the area to do a quick count, I spotted two men exchanging words through the entryway of a smoke shop. A few blocks back, there had been a heavy police presence. I didn’t want to stop this time as I have before; even being in the area can be dangerous. So like many people, I kept driving even as others stopped to solicit the services of the scantily clad women working the area. Is this free-market capitalism or is this slavery? Opinions may differ much like mileage, but one thing is for sure, despite the publicly announced intention of law enforcement under the U.S. Attorney’s office to “take an all-hands approach to stop the human trafficking happening right in our backyard,” as E. Martin Estrada stated in September 2024.

Just a few days ago, on January 22, District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced charges against three individuals, saying, “Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar business and should be viewed as nothing short of modern-day slavery.” Hochman added that “Los Angeles County has the tragic distinction of being one of the nation's capitals of human trafficking.” Given the money involved, it seems likely that three more people will just replace those two offenders in the ecosystem as time passes.

For the first defendant, the heavy charges of “one felony count of human trafficking of a minor for a commercial sex act by force, fear, fraud, or threat of injury and one felony count of human trafficking of an adult” combined with “allegations of personal infliction of great bodily injury” are a third strike. The second defendant is charged with “one felony count of pandering and one count of felony possession of a firearm by a felon” and was out on bail. The third was “charged with one felony count of pandering in case” and had a prior violent offense on his record. The release also highlighted the completion of six other cases. Is this the tip of an iceberg of criminality? Does it even matter? The DA’s office included video clips in its press release; both appeared to have been taken from above, perhaps by helicopter or drone, and showed a woman wandering in traffic next to a school bus and a woman walking unsteadily on a sidewalk. The purpose of these clips wasn’t crystal clear beyond criminalization, nor were resources for victims offered. We must do better.

UPDATE: This story was updated with additional information from the City Attorney’s office, which noted: “Additionally, our lawyers have successfully defended the City when we are sued following the Planning Department’s revocation of a nuisance motel’s use, which is pursued when motel owners fail to clean up their motel operations after repeated requests by LAPD and our office.”

To reach the National Human Trafficking hotline for assistance from an advocate, please call 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733 for help 2/47 confidentially. Link: National Human Trafficking Hotline

Link: National Human Trafficking Prevention Month

Link: Federal, County, and City Law Enforcement Officials Announce Initiative to Combat Sexual Exploitation Crimes

Link: Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force (LARHTTF)

Link: Human Trafficking Prevention and Resource Summit

Link: Gang mayhem and murder sprang from an L.A. motel, suit says; city targets owner

Link: Column: U.S. Atty. E. Martin Estrada steps down, looks back at his ‘labor of love’

Link: J.D. Beck Consulting

Link: Prevalence Study of Human Trafficking in the County of Los Angeles

Link: Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking

Link: “Human Trafficking: Services Provided Through the Bureau of Victim Services”

Link: Journey Out

Link: EverFree