Who is Karla Jacinto Romero? Sex trafficking survivor slams Katie Britt over SOTU response

Karla Jacinto Romero, a s*x trafficking survivor whose story was brought up by Senator Katie Britt during her SOTU rebuttal on Thursday, called out the Alabama Republican for narrating an inaccurate story.

Katie Britt criticized the Biden administration on its handling of border issues. She said in her State of the Union address:

“We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days. When I took office, I took a different approach.”

Britt linked it with crimes including human trafficking, and referred to Romero’s story:

“I traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas. That’s where I spoke to a woman who shared her story with me.

"She had been s*x-trafficked by the cartels starting at the age of 12. She told me not just that she was r*ped every day, but how many times a day she was r*ped.”

An independent reporter initially revealed on TikTok that the woman mentioned in Britt’s speech was Romero. Later, the Alabama Republican’s communications director confirmed the victim's identity as Karla Jacinto Romero.

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Karla Jacinto Romero's response to Sen. Katie Britt's narration of her story

In an interview with CNN, Karla Jacinto Romero slammed Senator Britt for using her tragic experience for her political purpose, telling the outlet:

“I work as a spokesperson for many victims who have no voice, and I really would like them to be empathetic: all the governors, all the senators, to be empathetic with the issue of human trafficking because there are millions of girls and boys who disappear all the time.”

She continued:

“People…are really trafficked and abused, as she mentioned. And I think she should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude.”

Romero objected to Britt’s recollection that the Mexican drug cartels had trafficked her.

The 31-year-old survivor clarified she was pimped by a 22-year-old man when she was 12 in 2004. The trafficking continued till 2008 when Romero was 16. She was rescued that year by an anti-human trafficking operation in Mexico.

Karla Jacinto Romero has since then advocated for victims of s*x trafficking. She also recounted the disturbing details of her experience in a testimony before the US Congress. She told CNN:

“I hardly ever cooperate with politicians, because it seems to me that they only want an image. They only want a photo — and that to me is not fair.”

Romero revealed she met Katie Britt at an event held last year at the U.S.-Mexican border where anti-trafficking activists and other officials were present.

Katie Britt, though, defended her retelling of Romero’s story in her rebuttal speech, telling Fox News Sunday:

“I very clearly said I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked when she was 12.”

The senator added:

“So I didn’t say a teenager. I didn’t say a young woman. A grown woman, a woman who was trafficked when she was 12.”

Katie Britt refused to clarify that Karla Jacinto Romero’s incident occurred not during Joe Biden’s presidency but when George W. Bush was the President of the United States.