WaPo: Anti-human-trafficking groups refuse to attend Ivanka Trump's White House summit

Jan. 29, 2020 at 5:00 a.m. MST

On Friday, President Trump is expected to attend a White House summit organized by his daughter Ivanka on human trafficking, an issue he frequently invokes as a top priority. But some of the country’s most prominent anti-trafficking organizations and advocates won’t be there. They have decided to boycott the event.

The group includes Polaris, the nonprofit organization that runs the national human-trafficking hotline, and the leader of Freedom Network USA, the country’s largest anti-trafficking coalition. Their decision comes after months of anguish over what they describe as an act of public deception. They say that although the president frequently invokes human trafficking, his administration is actively endangering a significant portion of trafficking victims: immigrants.

“We have such a chasm between rhetoric and reality,” said Martina Vandenberg, founder of the Human Trafficking Legal Center, a network of attorneys who take on trafficking cases. “This administration is undermining protections carefully built for trafficking victims over two decades.”

The advocates are especially alarmed by increased scrutiny of T visas, which provide temporary legal status for immigrants who can prove they were trafficked while in the United States.

At least eight organizations declined invitations to the summit because of their opposition to the administration’s policies. Three of those groups told The Washington Post they feared backlash over their decision, so they cited conflicts with other events.

“I don’t think any of us have the desire to be a part of a photo op,” Vandenberg said.