June 2, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Sex Workers Rights Coalition: World Cup No Excuse to Increase Criminalization of Sex Workers
Newark, NJ – The FIFA World Cup will be held in 11 US host cities beginning June 13 and ending with the finale in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, July 19, 2026. For months public officials in New Jersey have been suggesting that human trafficking will increase as a result of the World Cup, repeating a false discourse that has emerged time and time again at events such as the Olympics. Yesterday, the NJ Office of Attorney General released a statement regarding “sex and labor trafficking” concerns during the events in NJ, and announcing “significant resources” for law enforcement operations before and during the World Cup to carry out raids and “rescues.”
Our organizations are dedicated to human rights, ending violence and getting resources to community members for their wellness, health and safety. What New Jersey does not need right now are more raids and more opportunities for law enforcement to harm communities of low income folk, trans people, sex workers and immigrants. It is folly to provide more resources for widespread law enforcement in New Jersey as we learn of devastating human rights abuses being perpetrated at Delaney Hall, a private prison operated for ICE. Without a doubt, as has happened via increased policing during global sporting events in the past, sex workers, immigrants and trans folks in NJ will be detained, arrested, displaced, and harmed.
“New Jersey already has a terrible track record of disproportionately arresting and incarcerating Black and Brown folks,” note Penelope Saunders and Erika Smith, co-Executive Directors of the Best Practices Policy Project, “and pumping resources into policing during the World Cup will lead to BIPOC trans folks, sex workers and immigrants being detained in the name of ‘ending trafficking.’ In 2026 no one is safe in any form of detention anywhere in the US.”
“Resources need to be directed to the services that all sex workers in New Jersey need. Not policing. Not incarceration,” says N’Jaila Rhee, Executive Director of NJ Red Umbrella Alliance, an organization representing sex workers. “We call upon our NJ public representatives to stop funding the police to ‘rescue’ sex workers and to instead invest in economic justice and services led by the communities themselves.”
Members of the Sex Workers Rights Coalition, a national multi-organizational group, are raising the alarm today June 2nd, International Whores Day, about the increased criminalization and policing nationwide that is occurring under the guise of combating trafficking during the FIFA World Cup. The purported increase in human trafficking–and justification for policing– is without any evidence.
For additional comments please contact:
Penelope Saunders and Erika Smith at BestPracticesPolicyProject@gmail.com and cell +19178170324
N’Jaila Rhee – newjerseyrua@gmail.com and +15515878079
Sex Worker’s Rights Coalition – email rightsnotrescue@protonmail.com
An open letter expressing concern can be signed here https://forms.gle/w1jLeF2JSCFkrGRz7