In a recent political maneuver that has drawn both scrutiny and controversy, Sen. Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.) has staunchly defended her use of a graphic sex-trafficking story from nearly two decades ago to criticize President Joe Biden's border policies.
The incident, involving a young woman named Karla Jacinto Romero, occurred nearly 20 years ago in Mexico.
Britt faced questions from the Fox News Sunday host, Shannon Bream, about whether she intended to imply that the tragic incident happened during Biden's term. Britt denied this, clarifying that her focus was on Biden's executive actions at the border in his initial 100 days as president, The Washington Post reported.
The senator defended her decision to highlight Romero's story, asserting that she spoke to Border Patrol officers and victims of drug cartels during a border visit. Britt claimed, without providing evidence, that human trafficking had increased under the Biden administration.
In her State of the Union rebuttal, Britt had initially blamed Biden for the surge in migrants at the border, attributing it to his 94 executive actions within the first 100 days of his presidency.
"Biden didn't just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days," said Britt.
She also recounted her meeting with Romero, graphically describing the assaults against her while adding, "We wouldn't be okay with this happening in a Third World country. This is the United States of America, and it is past time, in my opinion, that we start acting like it."
However, the connection between Romero's story and drug cartels, as claimed by the senator, was contradicted by the woman's testimony nine years ago.
Romero, who testified before Congress about her experiences from 2004 to 2008, was never trafficked to the United States, as per The Washington Post. Her story revealed that she fell prey to a professional pimp at the age of 12 and spent four years in Mexican brothels before escaping at 16. Romero's story did not support Britt's claims of drug cartel involvement or that the assaults occurred during Biden's presidency.
When pressed further about the timeline and her linkage of the assault to Biden, Britt insisted she very clearly stated she spoke to a trafficking victim.
