The Political Scene | The New Yorker

Donald Trump’s Skewed View of Human Trafficking at the Border

02.14.2019 - By WNYC Studios and The New YorkerPlay

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In recent speeches defending his plan to build his border wall, President Trumphas repeatedly made reference to women who are kidnaped and trafficked over the U.S.-Mexico border. “Women are tied up, they’re bound, duct tape put around their faces, around their mouths,” he said during a speech, in the White House Rose Garden, in January. “They’re put in the backs of cars or vans or trucks. . . . They go into the desert areas, or whatever areas you can look at, and, as soon as no protection, they make a left or a right into the United States of America. There’s nobody to catch them. There’s nobody to find them.” Experts agree that the kind of human trafficking that Trump is describing is very rare. Jenna Krajeski, who writes about human trafficking for the Fuller Project, joins Eric Lach to discuss what the President misunderstands about human trafficking, and how his Administration’s policies may be making life hard for its victims.

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