What’s Love Got To Do With It: Sex Trafficking on Valentine’s Day in the City of the Angels

Today the LA County Board of Supervisors is meeting to discuss funding for several departments and programs, including those that impact the County’s children.

I am here today to remind the Supervisors that one of our most important roles as a society is to protect our children. Los Angeles County is ground zero for sex trafficking of minors, and recent laws have turned this into a haven for traffickers.  Children are being used as sex slaves.  This is the most grotesque of crimes, and unless we work immediately to create a safe environment for our children, we are failing as a society.

Our own District Attorney pointed out just a few days ago that LA County is a major epicenter for this brutal use and abuse of minor children, girls and women.  

SEX TRAFFICKING OF UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

Los Angeles is a sanctuary city and Mayor Karen Bass has made it clear that ICE isn’t welcome here. Their status remains hidden in collected statistics, a practice which must change immediately if LA County Supervisors are serious about combatting sex trafficking.  Undocumented immigrants in the United States are among the most vulnerable populations to human trafficking, including sex trafficking, due to factors like fear of deportation, language barriers, economic desperation, and lack of access to legal protections or support networks. And when the Biden-Harris Administration destroyed our border and allowed for unfettered border crossing with little to no vetting, they created the horrific conditions for us to see trafficking on steroids.

Data from the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline indicates that immigrants, particularly from Latin America and the Caribbean, make up a significant portion of identified victims; for instance, around 52% of victims with known immigration status were non-U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents between 2015 and 2018, with many from Mexico (58%), Guatemala (12%), and Honduras (7%). Sex trafficking accounts for a subset of these cases, but labor trafficking is more common among this group (77% of Latin American and Caribbean victims). (Ice.gov)

Underage undocumented immigrants (UACs)—defined as minors under 18 without a parent or guardian—face even greater risks of sex trafficking. Studies estimate that 60% of Latin American children attempting solo border crossings are captured by cartels and abused in child pornography or sex trafficking. In the U.S., 75–80% of newly arriving UACs are victims of trafficking, with vulnerabilities amplified by low education levels, language barriers, and foster care involvement. DHS initiatives have uncovered widespread abuse, including cases where children were placed with inadequately vetted sponsors, leading to sexual exploitation, forced labor, or even pregnancies by alleged sponsors.(dhs.gov)

Until the Supervisors are truthful and transparent about the extent of this in Los Angeles today, their “efforts” to combat trafficking will be relegated to a soundbite each end of month January.  In their meeting today they address funding for children’s programs, they should issue a directive to stop hiding the truth from the people of LA County.

A HAVEN FOR TRAFFICKERS

Exacerbating these anemic moves to end trafficking in Los Angeles County, is Senate Bill 357, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in July 2022, and which went into effect January 1, 2023.  The measure decriminalized loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution. It ties police officers’ hands since they can no longer stop women and children on the street whom they think are being trafficked.  Officers know many of the young women on the street are minors, but because of this law, they can no longer stop them.

THE MOST FREQUENTLY CITED AREAS WITH AN UPTICK IN SEX TRAFFICKING INLUDE THESE WELL KNOWN CORRIDORS:

• Figueroa Corridor (South Los Angeles, often called “the Blade” or “Kiddie Stroll”) — This remains the most notorious and heavily documented hub, spanning roughly 3–3.5 miles from around Gage Avenue/Imperial Highway northward (e.g., between Slauson and Century Boulevards). Multiple sources describe it as having become “much busier” in recent years, with more girls (including minors), customers, traffickers, and violence. Reports note an expansion from a few intersections to over three miles, increased recruitment from out-of-state or foster care, and ongoing challenges despite targeted enforcement (e.g., multi-agency initiatives, “Dear John” warnings, and felony charges for buyers). It’s frequently called the “epicenter” of child sex trafficking in the U.S.

• Western Avenue Corridor (Koreatown, Larchmont Village, Melrose Hill, and surrounding areas) — From Santa Monica Boulevard to Olympic Boulevard (and extending south). Residents and businesses have reported a noticeable uptick in street-level activity, including spillover into quieter residential streets (e.g., Oakwood Avenue), with visible sex work at night, encampments, and public acts. Complaints escalated in late 2025–early 2026, leading to a new multi-agency coalition (announced January 2026) involving the City Attorney, DA, LAPD, and nonprofits like Journey Out. Some speculate it’s partly due to displacement from Figueroa crackdowns, though officials suggest new operations ramping up for future demand.

• Other Mentioned Corridors:
  • Sepulveda Boulevard (San Fernando Valley) — Noted as one of the main prostitution areas in LA, with arrests and activity reported in operations.
  • Holt Corridor (Pomona) and Sepulveda Corridor (broader references) — Included in official briefings as active corridors alongside Figueroa and Western.

DATA AND ACCOUNTABILITY

As the LA County Supervisors contemplate funding levels and needs in their various departments, it is imperative for them to take strong action to combat sex trafficking right under their noses.  Saturday is Valentine’s Day.  This Saturday night, while the “Queens of LA County” are out on their dates and celebrating this annual “Day of Love,” I urge them to drive through any one of these corridors and see with their own eyes what is happening to, mostly, these young girls and women. In fact, I invite them to do a ride along with me on this celebrated “night of love and romance” to realize that love has nothing to do with sex trafficking.

Some of our Supervisors are mothers—do they care at all that these young girls are someone’s daughter? I call upon LA’s “Queens” to do the right thing today:  don’t just direct funding to protect our most vulnerable but stop the coverup of sex trafficking at the hands of the cartels that exploited the open border policy these same Supervisors championed and now refuse to tell us the numbers.  We, the people, demand answers.  We demand action on behalf of all of our daughters being trafficked in the city and county of the angels. 

LA County is a major epicenter of sex trafficking—exacerbated by the fact that the city refuses to work with @Sec_Noem to deport rapists, murderers, and pedophiles in our midst! Today, I called upon the "Queens of LA County" to do a ride-along with me on Valentine's Day to… pic.twitter.com/xbRmKI2Oja

— GloriaRomero (@GloriaJRomero) February 13, 2026