Did Katie Britt mislead Americans with a story about trafficking in her State of the Union response?

WASHINGTON – Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., detailed a harrowing account of child sexual assault as part of the GOP rebuttal to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address last week.

But the anecdote – told amid criticism of Biden's border policies – took place in Mexico while former Republican President George W. Bush was in office.

Britt said she traveled to the Del Rio sector of Texas, where she heard from a woman who was sex trafficked by cartels beginning at the age of 12.

"We wouldn’t be OK with this happening in a third-world country. This is the United States of America, and it’s past time we start acting like it," Britt said during her speech Thursday night. "President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace."

Britt's use of an anecdote that happened in a different decade and country sparked questions from some political observers, who accused her of misleading viewers as she hit back at the president. Here's what you need to know.

How has Katie Britt responded?

Britt's office confirmed to the Associated Press over the weekend that she was referring to anti-trafficking activist Karla Jacinto's story and said people are still victims of "disgusting, brutal trafficking by the cartels." Her office did not respond to a request for comment from USA TODAY.

On Sunday, "Fox News Sunday" host Shannon Bream asked Britt whether she meant "to give the impression that this horrible story happened on President Biden's watch?"

Britt said no and that it was clear from her remarks she was referring to an event that took place years ago: "I didn’t say a teenager. I didn’t say a young woman. A grown woman, a woman, when she was trafficked when she was 12."

She again criticized Biden's immigration policies, including a pause on border wall construction and deportations. (Border wall construction resumed last fall, and Biden's attempt to temporarily pause deportations was stopped by a judge.)

Britt said she cited Jacinto's story to raise awareness of sex trafficking.

"We have to tell those stories, and the liberal media needs to pay attention to it, because there are victims all the way coming to the border, there are victims at the border and then there are victims all throughout our country," she said during the Fox interview.

Who was Katie Britt talking about in her speech?

Jacinto, the woman Britt was referring to, testified to Congress in 2015 about her experiences. She said she was trafficked in Guadalajara and Mexico City between 2004 and 2008, far from the southern border with the United States. Independent journalist Jonathan Katz first detailed the discrepancy in a TikTok video.

Jacinto told CNN on Sunday that politicians in both the United States and Mexico have used her story for political purposes.

"I hardly ever cooperate with politicians, because it seems to me that they only want an image," she said, adding that she would like all politicians to "be empathetic with the issue of human trafficking."

"People who are really trafficked and abused, as (Britt) mentioned. And I think (Britt) should first take into account what really happens before telling a story of that magnitude," Jacinto said.

Britt, 42, is the youngest Republican woman ever to be elected to the Senate. Immigration policy has been a central focus of her first term, and she serves as the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee's Homeland Security Subcommittee.

Reactions to Katie Britt's response

The Alabama lawmaker's rebuttal to Biden's State of the Union was widely panned for her theatrical delivery, including a depiction by Scarlett Johansson during the latest "Saturday Night Live" cold open. Others took issue with her placement in a kitchen, despite her prestigious position as a United States senator.

"Senator Katie Britt is a very impressive person," wrote conservative commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin on X, formerly Twitter. “I do not understand the decision to put her in a KITCHEN for one of the most important speeches she’s ever given."

However, former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Britt for Senate in 2022, wrote on Truth Social that she was "a GREAT contrast to an Angry, and obviously very Disturbed, 'President.'"

Trump allies praised the speech as a message aimed at female voters as the presidential election heats up.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Did Katie Britt mislead on story about trafficking in SOTU response?