Open borders progressives whining about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sending illegal aliens to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doing the same with Martha’s Vineyard are in dire need of a dictionary. High-profile Democrats, in their insufferable faux outrage, are accusing the two leaders of engaging in human trafficking.
Yes, they are actually pretending that sending illegals who willingly agree to be transported to blue cities constitutes human trafficking. But this current strategy begs the question: Do these people truly not know what human trafficking is? Or are they aware of the definition of the term, but are choosing to lie about it?
A Latino civil rights leader in Washington, D.C., made the accusation during a conversation with a Fox News reporter. “Well, tell you what. Jesus is very upset with Governor Abbott right now. Treating refugees as political pinatas and for a political stunt, dropping them off at 6:00 in the morning in front of the Vice President’s house. That’s really inhumane and almost human trafficking,” he said.
A Latino civil rights leader accuses Texas Governor Greg Abbott of "human trafficking." pic.twitter.com/4EwOpXmRGh
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 15, 2022
Rep. Joaquin Castro took to Twitter to beclown himself over the matter. He tweeted:
The Department of Justice needs to investigate Governor DeSantis for using fraud and deception to lure people out of state only to abandon them without fulfilling his false promises. Same for Greg Abbott.
They’re engaging in human trafficking.
The Department of Justice needs to investigate Governor DeSantis for using fraud and deception to lure people out of state only to abandon them without fulfilling his false promises. Same for Greg Abbott.
They’re engaging in human trafficking. https://t.co/5kX26LBuQf
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) September 15, 2022
Political commentator Bakari Sellers also repeated the lie. He tweeted:
Are we going to act like Gov Abbott and Desantis aren’t engaging in human trafficking?!
Yes, they are literally committing crimes with their political gamesmanship.
Are we going to act like Gov Abbott and Desantis aren’t engaging in human trafficking?!
Yes, they are literally committing crimes with their political gamesmanship.
— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) September 15, 2022
These falsehoods are so egregious one would think Twitter would have slapped a fact check label on them, because what Abbott and DeSantis did has absolutely nothing to do with human trafficking, which is an insidious and evil practice. Here’s how the Justice Department defines the term:
Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons or modern-day slavery, is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological. Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.
The Trafficking Victims Act of 2000 defines it as:
-
a) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or
-
b) The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery. (22 U.S.C. § 7102(9)).
In essence, human trafficking doesn’t simply involve moving people from one place to another; it involves forcing them into some type of servitude. It is literally modern-day slavery. The practice can take several different forms.
Some victims are forced to work in various jobs for little to no pay. They might do agricultural work – harvesting crops and other types of labor. Some are made to work as housemaids or servants.
A particularly repugnant criminal enterprise is sex trafficking. Victims, typically female, are forced into prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and other forms of sexual exploitation.
As far as anybody knows, none of the individuals being bused on the Abbott Express are being subject to this type of treatment. Indeed, it is clear that they are riding on these buses willingly. Texas requires them to fill out a form granting it permission to transfer them to whichever blue city the buses are headed.
It is likely that most of those on social media shouting about human trafficking genuinely don’t know what human trafficking is. Many get it mixed up with human smuggling, which is a whole different thing. Media activist Seth Abramson made this distinction after being educated on what human trafficking actually is:
I am informed by experts on the subject that the crime Ron DeSantis committed yesterday was human smuggling rather than human trafficking—two terms often conflated in major media (e.g., ABC News just yesterday). Apologies for the confusion.
Ron DeSantis is a criminal. #RemoveRon
I am informed by experts on the subject that the crime Ron DeSantis committed yesterday was human smuggling rather than human trafficking—two terms often conflated in major media (e.g., ABC News just yesterday). Apologies for the confusion.
Ron DeSantis is a criminal. #RemoveRon
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) September 15, 2022
However, he still managed to get it wrong. Human smuggling involves paying someone to sneak an individual into the country while evading the authorities. Nothing DeSantis did fits this bill.
The left is usually good at using words and language to manipulate. But in this case, they just made utter fools of themselves.
