Los Angeles: Capital of the sex trade in minors

In the United States, 300,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking. Los Angeles is the hub of underage prostitution in the country.

In the streets of East Hollywood, in apartments, but also in motels, groups of girls work as prostitutes under the control of their pimps. Many have been kidnapped, drugged or raped before they were forced to sell their bodies. Every girl is thought to bring in between $100,000 and $200,000 a year, but the trafficking of girls is less risky for the criminals than that of arms or drugs.

We follow the specialized brigade tasked with stopping the pimps, see how they dismantle pimping networks, trap sex offenders, and organize rescue operations for underage prostitutes. We also meet Tika, a 38-year-old forced into prostitution as a teenager, who now works as an activist helping young victims.

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