Oakland Anti-Trafficking Plan

Human trafficking is not a victimless crime or a quality-of-life nuisance. It is organized commercial exploitation, often of children, and it happens in plain sight along International Boulevard and throughout District 2. Since taking office in May 2025, I have treated it as one of the most urgent public safety and human rights challenges facing our district. My approach rests on three commitments: hold pimps, traffickers, and buyers accountable; support survivors so they can leave exploitation and recover; and address the root causes, like housing instability and economic vulnerability, that leave people open to exploitation in the first place. I was honored to receive the Journey to Freedom Award from survivor-led organizations for this work, and I intend to build on it.

My Work Already Underway

My agenda builds on housing work already underway in Oakland:

• Increased funding for survivor services by 50%.

• Passed California’s first city-level survivor services fund, financed by civil penalties on people caught buying sex or pimping.

• Secured $700,000 in the 2025 budget for criminal enforcement against traffickers, pimps, and buyers. Buyer arrests are up 744% this year compared to 2024, and the funding allowed OPD to restart its vice school.

• Supported the launch of Dream Youth Clinic’s Street Outreach Team, which brings medical care directly to trafficking victims on International Blvd.

• Partnered with state leaders to bring anti-trafficking funding to Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention and Samuel Merritt University’s downtown nursing school.

• Funded new code enforcement inspectors and worked with community members to give the City Attorney lists of shops actively supporting the sex trade, helping shut down four of them and several others on a watch list.

• Chair of the Mayor’s Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, bringing together city, state, and county leaders including the Alameda County Board of Education, the Board of Supervisors, the Department of Children and Family Services, and Alameda County Probation.

• Funded a pilot that closed vehicle access to 9th, 10th, and 11th Avenues on the north side of International Boulevard to disrupt the side streets buyers rely on.

1. Expand Survivor Services and Pathways to Exit

People who are being abused need a real way out. Survivor services are a moral imperative and one of the most effective public safety tools we have. Trafficking depends on manipulation and control. When survivors have trauma-informed medical care, housing, economic opportunity, and support, they can break free from the pimps controlling them and are in a position to testify against the organized criminal networks exploiting them. The District Attorney has shared that survivor testimony is the most important factor in holding pimps and traffickers accountable.

That is why I increased survivor services funding by 50% on my watch, and why I supported the launch of Dream Youth Clinic’s Street Outreach Team. Every trauma-informed medical contact is an opportunity to build trust and connect someone to the resources they need to exit. I have partnered with state leaders to bring anti-trafficking funding to our Department of Violence Prevention and to Samuel Merritt University’s THRIVE Institute in downtown, and I will keep working to bring in outside funding for these efforts.

2. Make Buyers and Pimps Pay for the Harm They Cause

Buying or selling another person for sex is a crime. But with limited resources at OPD and the District Attorney’s office, we can't arrest and prosecute every violator. Oakland cannot let that gap become a free pass.

I passed California’s first city-level survivor services fund, financed by civil penalties levied against people caught buying sex or pimping. When criminal enforcement is not possible, civil penalties are a crucial backstop for holding the people who drive this abuse accountable. The money they pay is reinvested directly into survivor services that help break the cycle of exploitation.

This is model legislation, and San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors and other municipalities throughout the state are now considering a similar approach. In my second term, I will provide rigorous oversight to make sure fines are collected, and I will build out the administrative processes that let Oakland hold more people accountable, deter demand for the sex trade, and grow the survivor services fund.

3. Expand Vice Operations and Build a Regional Training Center

In the 2025 budget, I secured $700,000 for criminal enforcement against traffickers, pimps, and buyers. The results are already clear: buyer arrests are up 744% compared to 2024. This funding also allowed OPD to restart its vice school, an essential tool for training officers to carry out undercover vice operations.

I want Oakland to grow this vice school into a regional institution. Other cities would pay Oakland to train their officers, and that training would include officers working operations on the blade here in Oakland. This is a cost-neutral way to bring more officers to one of our most pressing public safety challenges while building regional capacity to fight trafficking networks that do not stop at city lines.

4. Use Code Enforcement Against Businesses That Profit From the Sex Trade

Trafficking does not operate alone. Some businesses along International Boulevard facilitate it, alongside the sale of illegal products. I funded new code enforcement inspectors who can identify illegal activity more quickly, including sex trafficking and illegal activity in smoke shops and gift shops. I also worked with community members to share lists of shops actively supporting the sex trade with the City Attorney, helping shut down four of them.

I am now working to develop legislation that will curtail the sale of items catering to the sex trade along International Blvd.

5. Protect Children

The average age at which someone begins to be commercially sexually exploited is 13 years old. This is not consensual sex work. This is child rape.

As chair of the Mayor’s Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force, I convene intergovernmental leaders including the Attorney General’s office, District Attorney, Assemblymember Bonta’s office, the Alameda County Board of Education, the Board of Supervisors, Alameda County Department of Probation and the Department of Children and Family Services, which operates our foster care system. Children are trafficked through gaps between institutions, so solutions have to cross those lines too. Through this partnership, I am working to expand supports for at-risk children, ensure school personnel can recognize warning signs, and strengthen safeguards in the child welfare and foster care systems to protect vulnerable young people.

6. Use the Built Environment to Disrupt Trafficking

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design can make it harder for trafficking to operate. Buyers rely on concealed side streets, which they turn into after picking someone up. Restricting vehicle access to those streets creates friction for buyers and narrows the areas where trafficking can take place.

I funded physical barriers that temporarily closed 9th, 10th, and 11th Avenues on the north side of International Boulevard. Houston, Texas implemented a similar model and found that it reduced trafficking. Oakland’s three-street closure is a pilot designed to gather data and determine whether trafficking behavior is interrupted.

In a second term, I will evaluate the results and expand what works. That means reclaiming our streets: improving lighting, activating community spaces, and closing additional side streets to trafficking where the evidence supports it.