Katie Britt defends human trafficking story in State of the Union response amid backlash

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) defended herself on Sunday after she used a story of sexual violence from two decades ago in Mexico as an attack on President Biden in her State of the Union response.

Britt shared the story of a young woman she met who experienced harrowing human trafficking between 2004-2008 in Mexico, but she used the woman’s experience to attack Biden, drawing mass criticism.

The senator brushed off the criticism, claiming the story is emblematic of the president’s border policy.

“I’ve said, in [Biden’s] first 100 days he had 94 executive actions, and those executive actions didn’t just create the crisis. They invited it,” Britt said in a “Fox News Sunday” interview with Shannon Bream. 

“The truth is, and the media knows that they’re not covering it, that human trafficking has gone up under President Biden,” she continued. “If you look back under 2018, it was a $500 million industry, human trafficking by the drug cartels. It is now a $13 billion dollar industry. Shannon, the drug cartels are winning under this. This is a story of what is happening now.”

Britt’s response painted a dark picture for the future of America, warning of violence under Democratic leadership.

Later Thursday, the Biden campaign hit back, going after Britt for her record on immigration policy.

“Last month, Senator Britt sided against President Biden, the Border Patrol Union, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce by opposing the toughest bipartisan border deal in modern history — instead voting with fentanyl traffickers,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

The bipartisan border security bill passed the Senate last month, without Britt’s support, but fell apart in the House.