Child Trafficking: Why California Law Makers Were Forced to Change Their Vote | Shane Harris

And this bill is about protecting children. They could be put into a slavery ring in which many of them cry out to get out, but nobody cares about them, nobody fights for them, and some people made it about political arguments and culture wars. A 40-year-old man that was coming and abusing a 14-year-old. No child should be dealing with these issues, especially by a system that claims it can take better care of you than your biological family. They're destroying their life. They're taking somebody, they're destroying their life. But they're promising them that they're going to take care of them. Californians were outraged when a lawmaking child sex trafficking, a serious felony, was blocked in the state assembly. My guest today is Shane Harris. He's an advocate for foster youth and a civil rights activist. He'll discuss why this law was blocked in the Public Safety Committee and why the lawmakers were eventually forced to reverse course. He will also tell us about his experience being in the foster care system and witnessing child sex trafficking firsthand. If you've been trafficked or you've been in a car accident, if somebody had a DUI or whatever it is that you're out there and you're saying, I've been through something, take what you've been through and use it for the greater good. I'm Siamak Khorrami, welcome to California Insider. Shane, it's great to have you on, welcome. It's good to be here. Shane, we want to talk to you about a controversial law. It was SB 14 that passed the Senate in California. It was about making child trafficking a serious felony that will give people a strike for the three strikes law. And it got past the Senate, but then it got stuck in the assembly, in the Public Safety Committee. And then you were part of the people that was advocating for this bill. Can you tell us what happened? The whole story? Well, absolutely. Thank you for your coverage around this very important issue because it is important for a lot of people to understand this kind of legislation has life saving and life changing impacts in our state. And so SB 14, a bill that sought and is seeking to make child sex trafficking a serious felony offense. Currently, it's not a serious felony offense in the state of California. This legislation seeks to make this a serious felony offense and essentially seeks to deal with the longstanding track record of children in our state being trafficked, people not paying the highest criminal penalties for that. And obviously there were a number of concerns from some of the public safety members who voted this down when it got to the assembly. It is important to note that this passed unanimously in the Senate. With no objections. Democrats, Republicans united on this legislation and gets to the assembly Public Safety Committee. That's one of the first committees that a bill has to go through when it gets to the assembly and the process in every, with every legislative process of every bill that is brought forth in our state is that it has to go through committees like Public Safety to look at, you know, if it's a public safety issue to look at all of the angles of it. What are the pros and what are the cons of from a public safety perspective. Appropriations, if there's financial impact to our state and the budget, how much it's going to cost and what it would essentially cost to execute whatever that legislation calls for. And it goes through the proper committees and then it gets to the floor of the Senate, floor of the assembly. In this case, it passed the Senate unanimously, went through all of its proper committees, gets to the assembly Public Safety Committee, the Public Safety Committee, all the Democrats voted it down. Essentially what happened after that is that, you know, Democrats voted it down. Many people got involved. Democrats, Republicans, the governor doesn't, he doesn't weigh in on legislative aspects or bills on a regular basis. That's not really Governor Newsom's kind of stance. On this one, he called the Republican senator who authored this bill. And I thought that that was so commendable because to have a governor stand up and get involved in legislation that really he has no responsibility for unless it gets to his desk, I thought showed a great demonstration of bipartisanship and the fact that we all know that this offense should be serious and that we, many of our children are facing the dangers of the slavery impact of going through the trafficking system. And we know that that has dealt a blow to children who become adults, children who end up dying or being killed. And it has great effects to the world, right? Human trafficking is a world issue. This is not just the issue in California. So the bill went to the assembly floor because of all the impact. I got involved as a Democrat. I've been a Democrat since I was 18, but I said, look, this is shameful. My party should be standing with the kids. My party should be standing with the majority of people who believe that this is a serious felony. And we called it out and called for an immediate hearing on the assembly floor for this to be brought straight to the assembly floor, skip all the committees because it's time to bring it forward. And essentially the assembly blocked this being brought to the assembly floor because they wanted it to go back to the Public Safety Committee so that the Public Safety Committee could vote again on the legislation because there were members of the Public Safety Committee coming out publicly and saying, I made a horrible mistake voting against this. So they brought it back to the Assembly's Public Safety Committee and it passed the Public Safety Committee with two assembly members, Assemblymember Bonta and Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, deciding to opt out of the vote. And it will now go through the process and the proper committees to try to get to the floor. Doesn't this show the power of the people? You know, if the people really want something, like the government will eventually do it, right? It shows the power of the people and it shows the power of bipartisanship. When we put partisanship aside and say, what is logical? What is reasonable? What is rational? Not what do you like Trump or do you hate Trump? Are you for this or are you for that? Real issues that impact our community on the local level, on the state level, are the issues that matter the most, not the national culture wars that are going on and the debates around what's more important and who do you like and who are you voting for? It comes down to what do we believe in as a state, as a local region, all of our local city councils, the policies we believe in and vote on, and ultimately the direct impact to the people. This is legislation that has nothing to do with the culture wars going on across our country. This is legislation that has everything to do with the children who are facing serious dangers and serious challenges and, quite honestly, are in a situation where they could be put into a slavery ring in which many of them cry out to get out, but nobody cares about them, nobody fights for them, and this bill is about protecting children. That's all this bill was about. And some people made it about political arguments and culture wars. In my perspective, I understand some of the concerns that Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and Vonta were discussing. Concerns around how this could potentially, the three strikes clause within this legislation, and how it could impact the victims. People that have been trafficked, that they might get arrested because they're getting involved with trafficking others. I understand the concerns that some of the organizations and the groups, the ACLU and some of the folks that have stood up and said that they're concerned about how victims would be impacted by a three strikes clause, by higher criminal penalties. But there were also former victims of child sex trafficking who spoke in favor of this. A matter of fact, at the end of one of the hearings, one victim on the side of the ACLU and some of the groups that were opposing this because they thought it was too harsh, and one of the victims who were supporting this legislation hugged at the end of the hearing because they're both survivors. And so I think what's important is that we have to realize that at the end of the day, no matter how we see this or don't see this, we have to do something. I looked at this bill, I read through it. I thought it was logical, reasonable and rational. We're talking about repeat offenders who continue to traffic and sell our children. And we have to send a message to them that our children are not for sale. If you sell our children, you will pay the highest criminal penalties of our state. And Shane, you have a very interesting perspective, unique perspective that a lot of us don't know about. And there is a reason why you got involved with this bill. Can you tell us more? Well, I spent 13 years in California's child welfare system, getting into it in San Diego County after the losses of my parents, Jose and Kimberly. I came out of a biracial family. My dad was African American and Puerto Rican. My mom was white. My parents had me like a lot of parents, you know, in the beauty of love. They met each other at a club or something like that and fell in love and popped me out in 1992. And you know, they weren't married. And so what eventually happened is they split and there was issues that began to happen between them. My mom had drug issues. She came out of the crack era and she returned to her habits. And my father had done very well at the end of his life. He had became a head chef of a drug treatment facility, but struggled early on in his life with alcohol. And he ended up getting cancer of the liver when I was seven years old. He died. And I went into child welfare in San Diego foster care and was taken into CPS custody, went to Polinsky Children's Center, which is a facility that holds foster youth until they're picked by a foster family. Somebody come get them and put them, take them to their home. I'll never forget, I was doing all these interviews with the families because they come to Polinsky and they interview you one by one, you know, whether they want to take you in or not. That was a very interesting dynamic. And you were seven. I was seven years old. And you know, I went through all the challenges you can think of, gangs, drugs, homelessness, fighting through the instability because I was going from placement to placement. They take you from foster home to foster home, group home to group home. If you don't get adopted, you really build an unstable environment. You don't know what it's like to be in a family, to be in a home. And so that was my situation. I went from home to home to home. And finally, I ended up in a home in San Diego. But I was transitioning even outside of San Diego, taking up to Vallejo, California at one point, L.A. County at one point, and then back into San Diego. And there was one home I ended up in particular, there was horrific abuses that were happening, was expressing my concern to my social worker. There was five of us children who were getting abused, neglected, there was tons of concerns. And it seemed like nobody was listening. And then finally, one of my foster siblings went to school with a big gash on their neck, and the teachers and facility got very concerned, and CPS got involved in an investigation, pulled that foster parent's license, and we were all taken out of the home. So I lost my mother when I was 16, which was very tragic and challenging, but that was bound to happen because of her drug challenges. So when I talk about children, and I fight for the well-being of our children, 99 percent of the time I'm right. And 99 percent of the time, I can guarantee anybody in this state, I can put my story up to any legislator, up to the governor, up to anybody in this state, or anybody in this country, because I am an exception to the rule, and it should not be that way. When I was dropped off at 18 years old, downtown San Diego, with a bag of clothes and an emancipation letter, and wished well by a system that was supposed to look out for me like a parent would, I can put my story up to anybody, and I can surely stand up for any child, because no child should be dealing with these issues, especially by a system that claims it can take better care of you than your biological family. This episode is sponsored by Midas Gold Group. Saudi Arabia has said they are open to accepting currencies for oil, other than the dollar. Kissinger set up a petro-business agreement with the Saudis in the 1970s, enshrining the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency. This could be shattered. The grave consequences would be felt by every American. The Fed and politicians have abused the management of our monetary and fiscal policy. They have thrown an anchor on Americans with over $200 trillion in debt. That includes owed entitlements. 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Now when this legislature came, you actually came up with some statistics that 60% of brothers and sisters, your brothers and sisters in the foster care, 60% of them are subject to sex trafficking, right? 60% per FBI statistics, they did a study in some of the largest cities in America, and 60% of children in foster care had been trafficked at one point. Have been trafficked? Yep, have been trafficked at one point in their life. And I think that, and this is FBI statistics, so if there's anybody out there that wants to run me up on the data, go look it up. You can find it anywhere. Run that number in your Google search and you'll see that it's on the FBI's website, it's on all reputable sites. I think that what we have to recognize is that foster children are among the most vulnerable children in our society. They are susceptible to being among the first that traffickers seek to pick out and seek to take advantage of. Why? Because they're unstable. Why? Because they don't have family, in many cases. Why? Because they often don't have the resources. And so those who seek to take advantage, perpetrators who seek to take advantage of children, they look to those kinds of children because those children end up depending on them. Why? Depending on them for the cars, for the money, for the resources, right? They're going to pull them out of poverty, right? That's what these pimps and these perpetrators run around telling these children. They're going to pull them out of poverty, and they're going to do that by giving them money and money and money, and they're tagging them, tagging them along. And before you know it, that child becomes that youth, and that youth becomes that adult who ends up in a cycle of instability, the same cycle of instability that they came to know within the foster care system. So the reason why it's very important that we as a legislature, as a state, look at the impact of a bill like SB 14 that would seek to hold perpetrators accountable. I want to keep echoing that because the other side of this argument is they want to make the argument that victims are going to pay more of the perpetrator trials, and they're going to face more penalties. No, this is an attack and an assault, and it's going after the perpetrators who continue to perpetrate and look after the vulnerable children in our communities and put them into their ring of slavery. Essentially, they're destroying their life. They're taking somebody, they're destroying their life. But they're promising them that they're going to take care of them. They're promising them that they're going to have their back. They're promising them that they're going to be rich, wealthy. They're going to take them out of poverty. These are liars. These are people who are vultures, and they come into these communities searching for the vulnerable teens and the vulnerable youth that they can groom and prepare to become their workers in a ring of prostitution. Did you see this when you were growing up? Absolutely. I will never forget. There was a young lady, I'm not going to say her name, but a teen girl who was in one of the group homes with me, and she was being groomed by this older man. She was like 14, 15. We were both like 14, 15. This guy, he's like 35, 40 years old, coming to pick her up from school. Taking her here, taking her there. She's got all this money. He's handing her this, handing her that. And she ended up in what I now know as prostitution. She ended up in a cycle, in a ring, right, where this guy would sell her to other older men. And not only was she being sexually abused, but emotionally abused and physically abused. And eventually, this young lady turned into an adult who ended up turning into somebody that was killed. Now, I don't know the stipulations or the reasoning behind her killing, but I can tell you that it doesn't matter to me, or I don't know, I don't have to know. Because the reality is that the cycle that she was put into, the fact that nobody stood up for her, the fact that these guys feel that they can take advantage of a young lady like my former friend. That is the reality that she was in. And she was probably fearful for her life, concerned that this guy was going to come after her if she went to out him or tell the police or file a police report. Because what these perpetrators do, they not only promise you all these things, but they threaten you. If you do this, we're going to do this. We're going to have so-and-so come after you. They threaten them. And what we need is we need a state that will stand up to these perpetrators and let them know, no, no, no, no, no. We will not protect you. This is not about criminal justice reform. You will pay the highest penalties if you hurt our children, if you threaten our children, if you lie to our children and put them in this cycle of sex slavery. So do you think the legislature, the lawmakers essentially were giving a free pass to this person, that almost 40-year-old man that was coming and abusing a 14-year-old and using them? I don't know that the legislature was purposely trying to give a free pass to these individuals. But I think that the unintended consequences of them doing what I call partisan politics, partisan politicking, that is the unintended consequence, right? I think that their intention was to try to curb Shannon Grove's bill because she's a Republican. And the unintended consequences from that is that you end up protecting this guy who is the criminal, who is hurting more children because you're playing partisanship on an issue that is not partisan and not political. Very interesting. And you had, you're an exception. You said you're an exception to this foster system. Tell us more about this system and how are you able to get out? I always talk about it. In San Diego County's child welfare system, over 20 percent of the children, 2,500 children, 2,500 children in our county's foster care system, upwards of 20,000, 30,000 in our state's child welfare system. And in San Diego County, I was a part of a 20 percent African-American children that are in child welfare, disproportionate number of black children in foster care. And, you know, nationally, we know the statistics, 20 percent of foster youth who exit foster care, or let's say one in four foster youth who exit child welfare and age out, they end up homeless. One in four end up homeless. So when I go around sharing that I'm an exception to the rule, I really am. And part of the reason why I became an exception was because of the people that I came to know in the end of my teen years. At 16 years old, I found God. For me, that was my eye-opening experience. The church and the pastor that I had, my spiritual father and other mentors started to come around me and help me walk through this thing because I didn't know that anyone could love me because I lost both of my parents. And I found that love, that peace, that vision, that opportunity through God and my faith. And then finding that path forward, found my calling to minister and preach the gospel. And I became an ordained minister at that time. And I think that one of the reasons why what I found in my preaching was that I found healing for myself, that I could empower others and I could heal inside through my preaching. And I think every one of us have that experience, right? Where we find unique ways to turn pain into power in whatever way we need to do that, in whatever way we find that outlet. But from that moment of finding my calling to preach, and I was preaching, and I'll never forget, I would come home from church on Sundays and preach to about 20 teddy bears in my room every Sunday. So I learned a skill set, right, in public speaking. I didn't know that I was being groomed into political leadership or into some kind of leadership that was more of an advocacy role or policy role. I didn't know I was being groomed into that. It just happened organically. And from there, it just leveled to the next thing. I got opportunities with organizations. School helped me build more skill sets. More mentors started to come alongside of me as I started to get roles in public policy and national roles in organizing for other national civil rights organizations. And then finally, in 2018, decided to open up my own national civil rights organization, the People's Association of Justice Advocates. And then in 2021, decided to open up my own communications firm, S. Harris Communications, to help other clients build their PR outreach and their media platforms. But all of this came from a place of conviction, from a place of faith, from a place of knowing that where I came from and my best days are in front of me, not behind me, and taking every bit of pain that I went through and turning it into purpose. And so I think over the last decade, I've become a vital figurehead in civil rights in America and have become one of the youngest rising civil rights leaders in America. And I've become one of the national leaders on foster care reform. But what people don't understand is all of the advocating and policy work that I have done, it stems from a very deep place of my own childhood and personal experience that I want to make sure that no other child in our country, if it's up to me, faces the odds that I faced. Homelessness, gangs, drugs, the reality that you can be incarcerated. The pipelines are too big for those areas, from foster care to homelessness, from foster care to prison. We've got to cut those pipelines by demonstrating something new to any foster youth in America or any youth out there that's disadvantaged in America to know that regardless of your circumstances, with the right people, the right opportunities and faith of whatever you want to believe in, that you can rise to the occasion and fight back to those challenges that you faced. Can you tell me about the moment you said you found God and how did that happen? I was sitting in a church, New Creation Church in San Diego, sitting in the back of the church. I had never been to church. Why did you go there? I think, you know, losing my mom, this was literally a week after my mother's death. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I would go see my mom on the weekends. It was what I looked forward to. Unfortunately, she was declining due to her drug, you know, due to her drug addiction. And I'm sitting in this church and the pastor had a powerful message. He was talking about how when you lose, you know, people and things, how God will be that parent. God will be that love, that peace, that kindness that you need to get through your challenges. And I didn't understand what he meant, but I think in that message, I felt in my heart that God was drawing me to faith, to hope. That in the moment of my despair, that I can find encouragement, that I can find a way up. With nothing in my pocket, that I can find my way up. And I decided at that service, there was a call to receive God into your life. And I decided to get up in the church. There was 3,000 people and walk down the middle aisle, nervous as could be, because I'm like, everybody's going to be looking at me. But I didn't care because to me, this was my moment of truth. My moment to climb out of the ditch of despair and darkness into light and opportunity to turn my life around and renavigate to a new shame. And I was leaving gangs. I was leaving drugs. I was leaving everything that I was influenced to do to go into darkness. And I was walking toward the light. And I think that was the first time that I realized that no matter what you go through, no matter who you are out there, whatever you do, that you can get to the light. Some people find that light behind bars. And some people find that light in a car accident. Some people find that light in whatever tragic situation they may go through. And there's no particular belief in whatever it is. It's just knowing that you have some level of faith in something beyond yourself, that you know that if you give, if you're kind, if you serve others before yourself, that your hands are open and you're giving, but you'll also be able to receive. And it's sort of the circular evolution of what the universe offers us when we open ourselves up to the possibilities over the probabilities. Why are so many people leaving California? It wasn't long ago, people from everywhere wanted to move to the golden state to enjoy a better life. Sadly, the standard of living has been dropping in the past decade. Are you like me and wonder why this is happening? I'm Siamak Korami, host of California Insider. In our film, Leaving California, The Untold Story, I take you on an intimate journey of love, loss, tragedy, and hope as residents face the prospect of leaving their beloved state. Everyday people like you tell their stories about why they have to move out of the state even though they don't want to. Experts and policymakers also give insights about what's happening behind the scenes. Together, we get to the root cause of this exodus. Go to leavingcalifornia.com to view the first 15 minutes of the film for free. By watching Leaving California, you can be part of the solution. Again, go to leavingcalifornia.com. Do you have any advice for Californians? So you've been involved with the, you were in the foster care system. You've experienced that. You've been involved with the legislature. Do you have any advice for Californians? I really want to tell people, take where you have been, where your background is. For me, it was foster care. And I've gone back to a system to fight within my democratic party, because I'm still a to fight the legislature, to fight the Congress, fight for foster children. I've taken my experience and evolved it into a challenge to ensure that other kids don't face those same odds. If you've been trafficked or you've been in a car accident, somebody had a DUI or whatever it is that you're out there and you're saying, I've been through something. Take what you've been through and use it for the greater good. People will call you every name in the book, a grifter. You're taking advantage of people. You're trying to, you know, scam people. And there are people who try to scam people. But most people out here that are taking their fight, their passion, their personal experience and fighting back, they're fighting back from a very personal place. So stand up for your own self, for your own history, and ensure that people coming behind you know that they have a voice. And then secondly, get involved. Don't let the legislature pass laws that you don't know about until after they're passed. And now you're fighting the clock. We need more people who won't fight the clock, but will be proactive and become policy makers. Run for office if you feel the need to. But I want you to know that you don't have to run for office to make an impact. You can introduce policies. You can introduce ideas that become laws. And it all starts in the creative mind of the people in our great state. And so don't complain about what's not working. Find something to put your hands to work to do that will work, that will make an impact, that will make a change. All politics and policy is local. So get involved in your city council. Get involved in your school board. Get involved wherever you're at. And then the last thing I'll say, let's put partisan culture wars aside. We have to get to the root of the problems that are actually facing people. And at the end of the day, even if you and I disagree about something in the culture wars or something in policy, let's find something to work together on. Damn it, we've got too much in our state to put aside this partisan bickering and back and forth to find something to work together on. This bill is a good example of what can happen when Governor Newsom calls Shannon Grove. A bill gets revived in a public safety committee. Rarely does the governor get involved in something like this. This is a demonstration of what can happen when we work together, when we put partisan politics aside into the bigger picture. And so I would encourage everyone to put the partisanship aside and find what we agree on. Shane Harris, founder of People's Association of Justice Advocates. It was great to have you in California, Insider. It was great to be here. And I hope that more people will get involved in our great democracy. If you like the show and our content, you should go to InsiderCA.com and sign up to our newsletter because we never know what can happen with social media and other platforms in terms of distributing our content. If you'd like to come on the show and be an Insider, you can reach out to us at cainsider at epochtimesca.com. Again, it's cainsider at epochtimesca.com. We'd love to have you on the show to tell us what's going on in your field in California. Thank you for watching.