Sabrina Talukder – an immigration attorney at The Exploitation Intervention Project at The Legal Aid Society – penned an op-ed for CNN calling on the incoming Biden administration to form a national task force to decriminalize sex work.

Takluder points out that those who rely on this form of labor tend to include immigrants, those impacted by police brutality, people of color, and LGBTQ youth – all vulnerable populations the Biden-Harris administration has specifically focused on as part of their commitment to progress. A national task force could create an effective legislative strategy on formally decriminalizing sex work in the US within the first four years of the administration.

“[Unlike] millions of Americans surviving on unemployment benefits, sex workers are ineligible for almost all government relief programs because their work is illegal and operates in the informal economy,” Talukder writes. “This means that besides being ineligible for pandemic and unemployment benefits, sex workers have been excluded from basic worker protections like wage and hour claims, sick leave and unionization.”

Read the full piece here.