Reflections on the important dialogue among Leaders that refuse to look away from a crime that continues to prey on San Diegan vulnerable women and youth.
SAN DIEGO, Calif.— The You Can Stop Human Trafficking Campaign held its inaugural presentation at One Safe Place in National City on Thursday, May 14, 2026. The event brought together activists, community leaders, political figures, NGOs, attorneys, and more to demonstrate that public safety is a combination of prevention, enforcement, awareness, leadership, services, and whether a community is willing to act before a crisis becomes a mere headline.
Inside One Safe Place (South – National City_
The venue itself carried meaning. One Safe Place is a sanctuary for victims of family violence, child abuse, hate crimes, human trafficking and other crimes. Both North (San Marcos) and South (National city) centers provide free, comprehensive services for survivors to step out of harm and move forward with their lives. With a dozen community partners and a collaboration with the San Diego District Attorney’s office, One Safe Place is made up of highly dedicated professionals who provide intensive relief to help individuals to live safely, find hope and justice. A mission that removes the burden of navigation across agencies to people who have already been through too much.
An event featuring the Leaders behind the fight against Human Trafficking in San Diego
The program featured Therese Cisneros-Remington, Founder of the You Can Stop Human Trafficking Campaign a volunteer-based organisation whose goal is to educate, collaborate and eradicate human trafficking in San Diego and create a national movement where humanitarian efforts become contagious and concrete. As master of the ceremonies, Therese Cisneros-Remington was in the company of those making tangible change.
Jessika Malone, Co-founder of Faith and Hope, a survivor-led non-profit, was honored and her father present on her behalf, for providing what few organizations can: essential resources, faith and dignity to survivors of human trafficking. Her vision is resumed by a world where every individual victim of human trafficking are given the care and opportunities necessary to thrive once again. Through Faith and Hope, she advocates for the power of community generosity to ensure those in need can live free from hardship.
Monika Spatcher, Clinical Case Manager at Children of the Immaculate Heart, was recognized for her intense dedication to helping change the lives of women and children affected by human trafficking. She sits on the delicate intersection of trauma, recovery and trust building, working every day, relentlessly, to empower her patients towards new lives of opportunities.
Marisa B. Ugarte, executive director of the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, received the evening’s most reverent acknowledgement. As a pioneer in the cause against Human Trafficking, her incessant fight for the children, men and women who survived Human Trafficking is a singular story of life inheritance. As a Purpose Prize Fellow in 2014, her coalition of 60 organizations across the border has opened the first thrift store in the nation designed to provide relief for human trafficking victims, rescued over 500 people from human trafficking rings since 2002, and changed the traditional model upon which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was working to advance coordinated efforts between governmental services. Initiatives that continue and will continue to advance the fight against human trafficking.
Political figures, including National City mayor Ron Morrison and Mayor John McCann from Chula Vista, attended the event to publicly stand against the serious threats of Human Trafficking and reinforced their support to the present agencies, advocates, service providers and community organizations.
Additionally, two keynote speakers: Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Matz, Chief of the Sex Crimes Human Trafficking division and Vanessa Gerard, Deputy District Attorney, also at the Sex Crimes and Human Trafficking department, shared the striking reality of human trafficking in San Diego, one that’s often unspoken and dismissed.
Human Trafficking in San Diego, a crime often in plain sight
Human trafficking is the result of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. It hinges on the exploitation of another being and does not require victims to be moved from one place to another. A child can be born in San Diego, raised in San Diego, never leave San Diego and be trafficked in San Diego. Victims can be of any race, gender, sex, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status and socioeconomic class, just like traffickers.
Human trafficking does not always begin where people imagine it. Most often, it begins in a school hallway, at malls, a trolley stop, or a house party. But it also begins online where traffickers use dating apps, social media, and direct messages to target young individuals who feel isolated, unseen or emotionally vulnerable.
The numbers are concerning. California is infamously considered as the fourth biggest hotspot for human trafficking (US or world), and for High Intensity Child Prostitution, the city was recognised as a top 13th destination in the USA. Locally, it represents an 810 million dollar industry in which traffickers earn an average of $610,000 a year, exploiting young girls and boys. This phenomenon is not clustered; it’s universal, it stretches from the streets of National City to La Jolla involving intense gang activity. The average age of entry into sex human trafficking in San Diego is 16 years old, a recessionary number that continues to conscript young individuals. Indeed, in 2023 the San Diego District Attorney’s office recorded a total number of 101 cases, 35 of which were juvenile occurrences, a number that escalated to 62 in 2025.
Ending human trafficking in San Diego, a collective effort with decisive action
District Attorney Summer Stephan has made it her priority to end human trafficking in San Diego County, a mission led in part by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force (HTTF), a cooperative effort led by the California Department of Justice involving federal, state, and local enforcement agencies. The office experienced a rise in the number of human trafficking cases being filed, an expansion associated with an increase in double-digit sentencing, particularly when minors are involved or when force, fraud, and coercion can be forensically identified, which tends to be the case. Prosecutors are increasingly building cases on digital trails, chasing social media messages, dating app conversations, Cash App payments, and text exchanges from traffickers, resulting in greater rates of convictions, ranking the San Diego District Attorney’s office as one of the most advanced and efficient in the Country in terms of human trafficking prosecution.
On the legislative ground, change has been made. On January 1, 2026, Assembly Bill 379 went into effect, sponsored by the San Diego District Attorney. This law targets sex buyers by rendering it a felony to solicit a minor for sexual purposes if the victim is three years younger than the buyer. Additionally, the statute revives loitering with intent to purchase sex as a misdemeanor and targets the accountability of both buyers and businesses that continue to feed this system.
None of the current milestones would be achieved without the dense local community network that provides relief and crucial services to survivors. One Safe Place, the You Can Stop Human Trafficking Campaign, Faith and Hope, Children of the Immaculate Heart, the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition and many others form a regional coalition whose resilience lies in mutual support. They deserve recognition and increased aid. Putting an end to human trafficking will require a collective unitary action.
Why does it matter?
The tangible takeaway is simple. Parents need to talk to their children about social media, secrecy, manipulation, and grooming. Schools need training to recognize warning signs. Businesses must understand trafficking indicators and act. Community organizations need stronger partnerships with survivor-serving agencies. Though the progress is real, a long path lies ahead, and it’s in everyone’s power to choose whether to act against human trafficking or close a blind eye before San Diego becomes a major headline.
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