Nearly naked women are walking around the streets in National City, California after a new law passed.
“They’re waving to people on the freeway or, just to be honest with you, they are bending over for the freeway. I don’t know how else to put it; they’re showing their wares,” National City Mayor Ron Morrison said.
In July 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom endorsed Senate Bill 357, revoking a prior statute that prohibited loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution. (Trending: Joe Biden’s 2024 Chances Are Officially Dead)
Nearly completely naked prostitutes prowl streets in broad daylight, but new California law ties police hands: mayor
“they are bending over for the freeway. I don’t know how else to put it; they're showing their wares," National City Mayor Ron Morrisonhttps://t.co/aCKQuEm3iS
— John R Lott Jr. (@JohnRLottJr) October 11, 2023
This legislation, effective since January of the same year, has prompted concerns raised by critics like Morrison, who say that the moment Newsom signed the bill, escort service operators within the state saw an opportunity to expand their prostitution operations with reduced legal consequences from law enforcement.
“The moment it was signed by the governor, boom, everyone knew the rules were out the window,” Morrison said.
“Those that are out there on the street, most of them are wearing less than what you would consider a scanty negligee. It is just flaunting in everybody’s face. And so a lot of people are screaming, ‘Hey, you know, can’t you get them on indecent exposure?’ And the problem is the way our laws read in this state. The definition of indecent exposure is as long … as the genitals are covered. Anything else is fair game out in public.”
National City, a working-class city with around 60,000 residents situated just outside San Diego on the bay, is characterized by its diverse population.
The city has encountered challenges related to prostitution, not uncommon in urban areas. The mayor notes that sex workers have historically crossed the San Diego city border, but the current frequency of such incidents is unprecedented.
“Very much beyond brazen,” Morrison said.
“I was driving on one of the streets the other day, and there’s this young lady standing there in the middle of the street wearing basically a G-string, and that was it, and a couple pasties. But she’s right in front of my car, I couldn’t move. So, I did ask her very politely, ‘Would you please move out of the street?’ And she looked at me and says, ‘If you don’t want to talk to me, you can go around,'” Morrison said.
Businesses complain to mayor Morrison that they are losing business because of it and a school in the area had to cover their windows. (Trending: Why Is Biden Giving Amnesty to 700,000 Migrants?)
The mayor says it is due to Senate Bill 357, an “idiotic law” he calls, “Safe Streets for Pimps Initiative.”
“This one has just opened the doors to prostitution, sex trafficking, child sex trading, I mean, you name it. This has obviously done that. And I don’t think anyone that is not just purely politically motivated could disagree with that,” Morrison said.
Senate Bill 357 was authored by Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener said, “[The previous law] allowed police officers to arrest a person, not based on what they did but based solely on how a person looks,” And, “So, an officer could arrest someone because they were wearing tight clothing, high heels and extra lipstick.”
Fox News Digital previously spoke with members of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), which is one of the largest and oldest direct service providers for sex and labor trafficking survivors in the U.S., who said they supported the bill “because we know that reducing the criminalization of survivors will help prevent human trafficking.”
“Traffickers rely on our systems to criminalize victims so that they are unable to access safety due to their records and are vulnerable to continued exploitation,” Leigh LaChapelle, CAST’s associate director of survivor advocacy said.
“The impact of these encounters with law enforcement reinforce already heightened stigma when someone is arrested for this offense due to the difficulties securing employment and safe housing with an arrest record relating to the sex trade,” LaChapelle said.
“Violation of this discriminatory law also puts immigrants in jeopardy of deportation, loss of residency or denial of reentry due to a misdemeanor conviction.”
“Senate Bill 357, which for all intents and purposes made prostitution legal because what it said is that officers can no longer contact people based on the idea of loitering for the purpose of prostitution. So, it basically tells the police your hands are off,” Morrison said.
“A lot of the times [police] found out that these were juveniles … or that they were basically being sex trafficked, and they could get them out of that. Now, they basically have no legal opportunity to even talk to them,” Morrison said.
“Those [crime incidents] go on our crime stats. We’ve had shootings, everything else involving the prostitutes and the pimps. So, those crime stats go on us. These people don’t live here in National City and people here don’t want them, but we’re getting the crime stats,” he said.
“People here are not happy about this in the least. And the problem is they expect us locally to do something about it. And we’re sitting here with our hands behind our back with handcuffs on that Sacramento was placed on us,” Morrison said.
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