A portion of Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles surrounded by nearly two dozen churches and several schools has been a breeding ground for human trafficking, prompting officials from the federal, Los Angeles city and county agencies to launch an unprecedented crackdown initiative, officials announced Wednesday.
The Figueroa Corridor Human Trafficking Initiative will target sex traffickers who often exploit girls as young as 11 years old with violence, intimation and psychological abuse along the Figueroa Corridor, a 3-and-a-half-mile stretch of Figueroa Street between Gage Avenue and Imperial Highway, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrade said while standing next to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Felstein Soto.
‘Outdoor bordello’ in South Los Angeles
The Figueroa Corridor has been plaguing the neighborhood made up of businesses and residences for years, according to Estrada.
“There are 23 churches in the area and five middle schools and elementary schools. But this area is also ground zero for human trafficking where children and women are exploited and abused each and every day,” the U.S. Attorney said.
Conditions in the Figueroa Corridor are so horrendous, Estrada said, as young girls and women are being forced into commercial sex work even during daytime. And at night, the area turns into an “outdoor bordello,” Estrada explained.
“We see underage girls walking around and next to nothing, regardless of the weather, with pimps lurking nearby in cars supervising everything,” he described.
