White House plans to curb use of migrant kids for labor

Major U.S. brands, retailers have been employing children.

The Biden administration on Monday announced a wide crackdown on the labor exploitation of migrant children around the United States, including more aggressive investigations of companies benefiting from their work.

The development came days after The New York Times published an investigation into the explosive growth of migrant child labor throughout the United States. Children who have been crossing the southern border without their parents in record numbers are ending up in punishing jobs that violate child labor laws, The Times found.

As part of the new effort, the Department of Labor, which enforces child labor laws, will target investigations in geographical areas where it rarely receives tips, according to senior administration officials. Migrant children are among the least likely workers to reach out to labor inspectors for help with workplace issues.

The department also will explore using a “hot goods” provision of law that allows it to stop the interstate transport of goods where child labor has been found in the supply chain, according to senior administration officials. The Times found products made with child labor in the American supply chains of major brands and retailers, including J. Crew, Walmart, Target, Ben & Jerry’s, Fruit of the Loom, Ford and General Motors.

In just the past two years, more than 250,000 children have come into the country alone. Many of them are under tremendous pressure to send money back to their parents, as well as pay thousands of dollars in smuggling fees and in some cases, rent and living expenses to their sponsors. Most are from Central America, where economic conditions have deteriorated since the pandemic.

Children now are working hazardous jobs in every state and across industries, The Times found. They are taking jobs in slaughterhouses, construction sites and factories — positions that have long been off-limits to American children.

At least a dozen underage migrant workers have been killed on the job since 2017, including a 16-year-old who fell from an earthmover he was driving in Georgia. Others have been seriously injured, losing legs and shattering their backs in falls.

Under a 2008 federal anti-trafficking law, children traveling alone from countries other than Canada and Mexico are allowed to stay in the United States and apply for asylum or other legal protections. The Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for ensuring that sponsors will support them and protect them from trafficking or exploitation.