“I became a sex worker full time in 2016 because Donald Trump said he was going to get rid of DACA.”
During a rally organized by a group advocating for the decriminalization of sex work in New York, an adult film actress and activist for immigrant rights said President Donald Trump’s stance on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy sparked her decision to become a full-time sex worker.
“I became a sex worker full time in 2016 because Donald Trump said he was going to get rid of DACA,” said porn star Maya Morena, according to Buzzfeed News reporter Otillia Steadman.
Several commenters on social media were confused by Morena’s revelation, wondering how her decision to pursue sex work was related to Trump’s views on immigration policy. “Alexa? What is a non sequitur?” tweeted one user. “lol wut?” wrote another commenter. Morena answered her critics with a straightforward declaration:
I like sex and money
— Maya Morena (@mayamorenaxxx) May 8, 2019
The adult film actress and sex worker has described herself as an “illegal alien,” immigration activist, “fighter for sex worker’s rights” and blogged about immigrant rights on Medium.
“I’m often surprised by how quickly other POC shrink back into a callous attitude towards members of their own group, and fall back into a false peace. The new racism is dividing my people into good and bad or ‘bad hombres’ as Trump calls us,” she wrote in 2017.
“I became a sex worker full time in 2016 because Donald Trump said he was going to get rid of DACA.” – Maya Morena pic.twitter.com/yGlEnaG6Cm
— Otillia (@o_tilli_a) May 7, 2019
Morena spoke at an event put on by DecrimNY. The group was in Albany to advocate for the repeal of a loitering law that is allegedly used by police to harass marginalized individuals, The Associated Press reported.
According to the AP, while the group’s chief aim is the complete decriminalization and destigmatization of prostitution in the city, they see the elimination of loitering laws as a first step.
During a campaign event in August of 2016, Trump pledged to end DACA once he was elected.
“We will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties, in which he defied federal law and the constitution to give amnesty to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants,” Trump told a crowd of supporters in Phoenix.
Trump and other immigration hardliners’ resistance to DACA, which is intended to protect eligible immigrants who came to the United States when they were children protection from deportation, has sparked a tense back and forth amid an already fraught immigration debate.
Via Pluralist
