by Jackie Huyck

Allison Temples opened the meeting by welcoming all attendees and thanking them for coming.

She then introduced our legislative analyst, Penny Harrington, who referred us to her meticulously maintained Google Spreadsheet of trafficking-related bills at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QA9U3nrhNlsMhnjAHD8MTkDDuMm5k2sCMMkjkrUjc_I/edit?usp=sharing
Harrington specifically mentioned AB 379 which establishes a fund for community-based organizations supporting victims of sex trafficking, makes it a misdemeanor to loiter with the intent to purchase sex ($1000 fine to fund the support portion), and ensures that the crime of purchasing a minor for sex applies in any case where the victim is under 18. She urged attendees to call or send letters to their legislators and provided a sample letter.

Allison then introduced our guest speaker, Jessica, who came with her father Gabriel and brother Benji. Jessica began by saying she was telling her story “not looking for sympathy” but rather to empower others and to make things better.

Jessica’s Story

Jessica was first trafficked at age 18 by her boyfriend of a few months, who “seemed normal” but refused to meet her parents. “That should have been a huge red flag,” she now admits. At the time she was attending college and hoping to become a nurse.

When her boyfriend picked her up to go to a “party,” she asked him to come inside and meet her parents but he refused and instead pushed her into the car. The “party” was in a penthouse, where her boyfriend sold her for the first time. She was locked in a bedroom and raped. “I felt that I wasn’t worth anything, like trash,” she said.

She was then handed over to a Russian guy who took her to a hotel for a few months, during which time she was physically abused, and branded on the stomach. She begged to be let go. “I was his puppet,” she said. She tried to leave multiple times, but she was beaten, drugged, and told “No one is going to want you.” She started to believe them. But at the same time, she said, “I knew my parents were looking for me.” At some point she even considered suicide, “but a little voice said ‘keep going.’

At some point, the Russian guy got arrested for selling drugs. Jessica was sold to another guy who was even more abusive. She was taken to Arizona. Her chance to escape came when they got in a car crash, and she ran to the nearest houses and desperately knocked on doors until one person finally let her in. When she told her story they called her parents and the police. By then her abuser was knocking on the door of the house, but the police arrived just in time, and an ambulance took her to the hospital. “They were trying to arrest me for the car crash,” she said, “I had a large amount of drugs in my system.” But her father got in touch with the police and once they realized she was a victim of trafficking they started treating her better.

At the hospital a nice nurse, seeing she had no clean clothes, went to the store and bought some clothes for her. “The way she treated me, not judgmental, was the best feeling,” Jessica said.

Jessica returned home with her family. She had to have surgery on her appendix. But one day she was out with her brother and they were followed in a car by a guy she knew named Moises who forced her into his car by threatening to shoot her brother if she resisted. Once again she was a prisoner. He beat her. “I felt like I was going to die,” she said.

Once again, a car accident gave her a way out. “Moises ran over a cop” after which he tried to escape to Mexico with her, and there was a police chase. Cornered, Moises ditched the car and ran to a house with Jessica and they hid in the rafters. Fortunately, the police found them and Moises went to jail. However, since Jessica was over 18, the police said they could not charge Moises with trafficking. Jessica said that’s a big problem. “The traffickers know that once we’re 18 the police aren’t going to go after them.” She worried, “What if he gets out?”

Today, Jessica is married with two kids. She is telling her story to raise awareness. “I don’t want this to happen to more kids. We need better laws to protect kids, not just a slap on the wrist,” she said. “Traffickers wait for kids to turn 18.”

Another problem is her record. Once, when she was visiting someone in Mexico, she got arrested at the border because of her record. She spent 4 days in jail, until finally being released when she was able to prove to the authorities that she had been a victim of a crime, not the criminal.

Now? “I don’t want to be a victim; I’m a survivor.” Jessica and her family have set up a nonprofit organization to help others, called Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope). They have a website at feyesperanzanonprofit.com/

A question and answer period followed, one of the questions was what can we do to help. Jessica said just asking someone you think is being trafficked: “Are you okay?” or “Do you need me to call someone?” or “Can I drive you somewhere?” She said she had asked for help from passersby in the past but was treated like a leper because she looked like a drug addict.

Also, she feels like nurses and hospitals need to be educated to believe victims of sex trafficking when they are admitted to the hospital, because one of the nurses Jessica encountered clearly did not believe her story and treated her with contempt.

Meeting adjourned at 10 am

Next meeting of the Collaborative will be on Thursday, July 10, at the United Methodist Church of Vista, Address: 490 S Melrose Dr, Vista, CA 92081.

Speakers from One Safe Place will be featured. They will fill us in on what One Safe Place is all about and give us a virtual tour of the organization and the wonderful work they accomplish for all those in compromising situations!!!

All are welcome and complimentary coffee and pastries will be available. Allison and Nelly will notify members.

The North County San Diego Anti-Human Trafficking Collaborative is a diverse group of citizens and community organizations committed to raising awareness about human trafficking, sharing information, improving victim services, educating the public, and advocating for related policy and legislation.