The Republican response focused on a brutal story of sex trafficking, which actually took during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Independent journalist Jonathan Katz put out a viral TikTok video on Saturday scrutinizing the anecdote, in which he reported discovering that the person Britt was referring to was a woman named Karla Jacinto Romero, an activist who has spoken publicly for many years about her experience being sex trafficked and forced to work in Mexican brothels. But Romero was never brought across the southern border against her will, as Britt seemed to imply, and her horrific experiences in Mexico took place between the years of 2004 and 2008, when George W. Bush was president, The Washington Post confirmed.

Britt spokesman Sean Ross confirmed that the Senator was indeed speaking about Romero, whom she met at the southern border in 2023, but denied that her speech was misleading, saying in a statement that the story “was 100 percent correct” and that “there are more innocent victims of that kind of disgusting, brutal trafficking by the cartels than ever before right now.”

  • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    denied that her speech was misleading, saying in a statement that the story “was 100 percent correct” and that “there are more innocent victims of that kind of disgusting, brutal trafficking by the cartels than ever before right now.”

    She more than implied that the story was Biden’s fault and a problem for the US when it happened twenty years ago in another country. Yes, that stuff still happens, and it’s terrible, but what does it have to do with Biden? If anything, letting people like her have sanctuary in the US would help, but the Republicans don’t want that.

    • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      If anything, letting people like her have sanctuary in the US would help, but the Republicans don’t want that.

      You just pointed out another reason why her using this story to score political points is so disgusting. These are the people whom the asylum program is supposed to help, and the Republicans actively work against helping.

      If there’s a hell, she’s going to it. She deserves it.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    That’s the third time I’ve seen her since the SotU. And that’s three times too many. I liked it better when she wasn’t in the news. Let’s just let this one evaporate and we’ll be on our merry way.

    • mozz@mbin.grits.dev
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      9 months ago

      Oh, no, no

      She may well have known exactly what she was doing and deliberately put some stuff in that would generate controversy and sustained news stories after her little speech was over

      She’s here to stay now, I think, although I share in your displeasure about it