Men from as far away as Orlando, FL charged with soliciting Mass and Cass prostitutes who turned out to be undercover cops

I don't think the kinds of customers going to Mass & Cass to pay for sex are looking for clean, tested, regulated and taxed sex workers. They are likely looking for women who are easy to exploit for short money because of such chronic issues as homelessness and substance abuse.

Even if we legalize and regulate, we will still had to address the creeps who prey on the most vulnerable members of our society.

Just a guess, but maybe they had an Asian woman or someone else who used a foreign accent. Obviously girls who grew up in the US of any ethnicity end up being trafficked too, but there's a stereotype of foreign women being in that realm so maybe that's what they're trying to say.

I don't think it makes a difference to the facts and it's a weird thing to say, but maybe they were trying to give additional details about the sting but with a deaf ear towards political correctness.

Human trafficking is real, but it's very often overstated in service to ideology. To the extent human trafficking is happening in the USA, it's hidden and not on the streets.

Promoting the idea of pervasive human trafficking supports the enactment of the "Nordic model" of prosecuting prostitution advocated by feminists and progressives.

The Nordic model only prosecutes (male) clients and pimps, while prostitutes are treated as victims without agency.

Observations from many years in the Boston criminal courts:

Streetwalkers are always addicts. It's pretty simple: they prostitute themselves for drugs and money to buy drugs. Most are independent actors, they just go out when they need money for drugs.
First offenses usually dismissed upon attendance in a safe sex class and STD testing at Project Trust. Subsequent offenses face an escalating series of sanctions, usually beginning with probation with outpatient then inpatient drug treatment programs. Only after several arrests and probation failures will a custodial sentence at the House of Correction be imposed. This can save some of their lives, by providing a detox period and getting them off the dangerous streets. Custodial sentence is often coupled with probation with drug treatment

Common streetwalking / nightwalking and street prostitution are public order offenses. They disrupt neighborhoods, attract various types of criminals. I can't forget the story in the Globe about prostitution in Chinatown which included a bit about neighborhood children playing with a used condom. There are other "zones" in Boston in which streetwalkers roam besides Mass and Cass and downtown.

Discreet escorts plying their trade through the internet and in private apartments are almost never investigated with undercover police or prosecuted. Only saw one in ten+ years.

I've seen classic "The Mack" type of pimps and crews of streetwalkers a couple of times. A team of a pimp and 4-5 women will travel from city to city. If arrested, usually will be released on personal recognizance due to no local record and never be seen again. If not, pimp will have bail money. Identification and identity of these people often an issue - who are they?
Is this human trafficking or a business partnership?

In the past, Boston Police and the DA would go out of their way to publicize, publicly shame those men arrested for soliciting a prostitute out of all proportion to the nature of the offense. They didn't do it for robberies, assaults and batteries, etc. In this case, they only named the one guy who already had a warrant and probation, which is good. Do you really want to cause suicides?

Women police officers working as bait are facing a double whammy of stress: it's dangerous and it's objectifying or even humiliating.