Sarkozy had made a sharp distinction between the "classic prostitution" of the traditional French Fille de Joie, who he depicted as unproblematic, even a cultural icon (see Culture), and the presence of ""ces malheureuses filles étrangères"" (these poor foreign girls) on the streets of France, who he depicted as the security threat. By "rescuing" these victims of trafficking and returning them home, he proposed to solve the situation. He argued that the only way to achieve this was to arrest them and then send them back to their families ("Si le racolage est reconnu comme un délit, les forces de l'ordre pourront, parce qu'elles auront commis un délit, ramener ces filles chez elles"), which he stated to be a humanitarian duty ""c'est un devoir, dirai-je, humanitaire que de raccompagner cette personne chez elle"" (I will say it is a humanitarian duty to return such a person to their home).