Nearly naked prostitutes prowl streets in broad daylight, but California law ties police hands: mayor
National City Mayor Ron Morrison says controversial new California law caused brazen prostitution to spiral
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Women wearing only "g-strings" while bending over in front of traffic has become an increasingly common sight in National City, California, as prostitution issues spiral after the implementation of a controversial state law, the city’s mayor told Fox News Digital.
"They're waving to people on the freeway or, just to be honest with you, they are bending over for the freeway. I don’t know how else to put it; they're showing their wares," National City Mayor Ron Morrison told Fox News Digital in an interview this month.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 357 in July 2022, which repealed a previous law that banned loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution. The law took effect in January this year, with Morrison arguing that the moment Newsom’s pen touched the bill, pimps in the state knew they could expand their prostitution ventures with little repercussions from law enforcement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The moment it was signed by the governor, boom, everyone knew the rules were out the window," Morrison told Fox News Digital.
A woman is seen on the streets of National City, California, as she wears very little clothing. (Ron Morrison)
"Those that are out there on the street, most of them are wearing less than what you would consider a scanty negligee. It is just flaunting in everybody's face. And so a lot of people are screaming, ‘Hey, you know, can't you get them on indecent exposure?’ And the problem is the way our laws read in this state. The definition of indecent exposure is as long … as the genitals are covered. Anything else is fair game out in public."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 357 in July 2022, which repealed a previous law that banned loitering with the intent to engage in prostitution. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images / File)
National City is a diverse working-class city of roughly 60,000 residents just outside San Diego on the bay, Morrison said. Prostitution issues are no stranger to the city, with the mayor explaining that as an urban area, sex workers have been known to cross the San Diego city border – but never at the rate he’s currently seeing.
"Very much beyond brazen," Morrison said of what he’s seeing on his streets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}National City Mayor Ron Morrison (National City, California, website)
Prostitutes gather in a downtown area that faces a freeway and are most often seen early in the morning and around 3 p.m. Morrison added that another new California law that legalized jaywalking has compounded the issues as some women stand in traffic to attract a john.
"I was driving on one of the streets the other day, and there's this young lady standing there in the middle of the street wearing basically a G-string, and that was it, and a couple pasties. But she's right in front of my car, I couldn't move. So, I did ask her very politely, ‘Would you please move out of the street?’ And she looked at me and says, 'If you don't want to talk to me, you can go around,'" Morrison said.
Businesses, ranging from mom-and-pop stores to national hotel chains, have sounded off to the mayor that the prostitutes are driving away business and have forced some businesses to refund families who were appalled at seeing nearly naked women while on their California getaway.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A suspected prostitute is seen walking past a family enjoying their dinner in National City, California. (Ron Morrison)
Even a local school covered its windows after prostitutes were repeatedly found hanging out near its gates, Morrison said.
A woman in a skimpy outfit walks past a school in National City, California. The windows of the school have been covered up amid an increase in prostitution issues, the city's mayor says. (Ron Morrison)
The mayor argues that the issue comes down to Senate Bill 357, which he called an "idiotic law" that should be known as the "Safe Streets for Pimps Initiative," which has allegedly not only left his town and other municipalities in the state dealing with an increase of sex workers on the street, but it has also incentivized human trafficking.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This one has just opened the doors to prostitution, sex trafficking, child sex trading, I mean, you name it. This has obviously done that. And I don't think anyone that is not just purely politically motivated could disagree with that," Morrison said.
A suspected sex worker walks the streets of National City in fishnets and underwear. (Ron Morrison)
The mayor described himself as a "nonpartisan" who has worked at various levels of government over more than 30 years, whose main focus is to "look out for people in National City and their businesses" and not play politics in Sacramento.
Senate Bill 357 was authored by Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, who championed the bill as one that would help protect transgender women from being targeted by police.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"[The previous law] allowed police officers to arrest a person, not based on what they did but based solely on how a person looks," Wiener told local media earlier this year. "So, an officer could arrest someone because they were wearing tight clothing, high heels and extra lipstick."
Alleged prostitutes in National City, California, stand in the streets to help attract a john, according to the city's mayor. (Ron Morrison)
Fox News Digital previously spoke with members of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), which is one of the largest and oldest direct service providers for sex and labor trafficking survivors in the U.S., who said they supported the bill "because we know that reducing the criminalization of survivors will help prevent human trafficking."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Traffickers rely on our systems to criminalize victims so that they are unable to access safety due to their records and are vulnerable to continued exploitation," Leigh LaChapelle, CAST's associate director of survivor advocacy, told Fox News earlier this year after the law took effect.
"The impact of these encounters with law enforcement reinforce already heightened stigma when someone is arrested for this offense due to the difficulties securing employment and safe housing with an arrest record relating to the sex trade," LaChapelle added. "Violation of this discriminatory law also puts immigrants in jeopardy of deportation, loss of residency or denial of reentry due to a misdemeanor conviction."
Prostitution is still illegal in California, but Morrison said the new law has effectively legalized the crime as police back off from intervening or interacting with the women.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A woman wearing what appears to be just a bra and underwear walks on the streets of National City, California. (Ron Morrison)
"Senate Bill 357, which for all intents and purposes made prostitution legal because what it said is that officers can no longer contact people based on the idea of loitering for the purpose of prostitution. So, it basically tells the police your hands are off," Morrison said.
He noted that some of the girls on the street appear underaged, though the amount of makeup the sex workers wear makes it difficult to gauge an age, and the city has previously seen girls as young as 12 working on the streets.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A lot of the times [police] found out that these were juveniles … or that they were basically being sex trafficked, and they could get them out of that. Now, they basically have no legal opportunity to even talk to them," Morrison said.
National City Mayor Ron Morrison said prostitution spiraled in his city after the governor signed SB 357. (Ron Morrison)
With prostitution blatantly on the streets, other crimes have also followed, including shootings and assaults. Morrison said that just weeks ago an eight-month pregnant prostitute was kidnapped, beaten and raped.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Those [crime incidents] go on our crime stats. We've had shootings, everything else involving the prostitutes and the pimps. So, those crime stats go on us. These people don't live here in National City and people here don't want them, but we're getting the crime stats," he said.
People run and walk past a major bluff collapse on Black's Beach in San Diego on March 24, 2023. (Melina Mara / Washington Post via Getty Images)
Morrison said he is working with the local district attorney and the police department to craft avenues on how to navigate the state laws while cleaning up the streets. The police department has carried out "john stings" in the past, but such operations require a team of roughly 30 officers, which would translate to half of the city’s police force, and weeks of planning, Morrison said.
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"People here are not happy about this in the least. And the problem is they expect us locally to do something about it. And we're sitting here with our hands behind our back with handcuffs on that Sacramento was placed on us," Morrison said.