CNN
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Alabama Sen. Katie Britt acknowledged Sunday that the graphic anecdote she used to criticize President Joe Biden's border policies did not occur while he was president.
“President Biden's border crisis is a disgrace,” Britt said in a Republican response to Thursday's State of the Union address, after telling the story of a woman who has been “sex trafficked by cartels since she was 12 years old.” said. It's despicable. And it's almost completely preventable. ”
Asked by Fox News' Shannon Bream on Sunday if she intended the story to give the impression that it happened during Biden's time in office, Britt said, before criticizing the president's border policies. No, Shannon.”
“I made it very clear that I spoke to a woman who told me about the time she was trafficked when she was 12 years old. “She was trafficked when she was 12 years old,” Britt said.
In a detailed video posted to TikTok on Friday, freelance journalist Jonathan Katz tracks down what appears to be the article Britt was referring to and discovers it happened in Mexico in the mid-2000s. did.
Mr. Katz cited a 2023 press release from Sen. Marsha Blackburn stating that Sen. Blackburn, along with Sen. Britt and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, announced that the Texas I visited Eagle Pass and heard from a human, Carla Jacinto. Survivors of human trafficking, etc.
“Senators learned about cartel activity in Mexico and the work being done to rescue victims of human trafficking,” the press release states.
Jacinto has shared her story publicly, including at a hearing on sex trafficking held by the House Foreign Affairs and Global Human Rights Subcommittee in 2015. She said through her interpreter that for four years, starting from the age of 12, she was “mentally and sexually abused over and over again.” She explained how she ran away to a shelter when she was 16 and was able to “grow into an activist”.
Jacinto told CNN on Sunday that he was a victim of human trafficking before Biden took office, and said there is a lack of empathy among members of Congress when they exploit the human trafficking issue for political purposes.
“I rarely collaborate with politicians because it seems like they only want an image. They only want a photo, and for me that's unfair,” she told CNN. told Rafael Romo.
CNN has reached out to the senator's office for comment on Sunday.
According to her social media accounts, Britt has previously referenced articles she gave Thursday, including her Sept. 27, 2023, speech at the U.S. Capitol.
“Instead of spewing yet another debunked lie to justify opposing the toughest bipartisan border bill in modern history, Sen. Bullitt,” White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement to CNN on Sunday. must stop choosing human smugglers and fentanyl traffickers over national security and border protection coalitions.” ”
Senate Republicans last month passed a major bipartisan border deal and foreign aid package that would have enacted restrictive border measures amid a barrage of attacks on the bill by former President Donald Trump and top House Republicans. I prevented it.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN's Rafael Romo contributed to this article.
