Elizabeth Nolan Brown:
For the second time since September, The New York Times profiles one of the state’s specialized criminal courts created to handle prostitution cases, known as “human trafficking intervention courts”. This one, in Queens, sees largely Latin American and Asian defendants, including a large number of undocumented immigrants. Many turned to sex work with debt piling up and few other employment options.
This is, of course, precisely the cohort that gets white-savior boners popping. All those American-born sex workers on Twitter may insist they want rights not rescue, but surely these low-income, low-skill women are victims. Surely they’ll appreciate state power being used to help rend them from their wretched lives.
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