Action on child labor is stalled
Derailed by fight over immigration
WASHINGTON — Weeks after revelations that migrant children are being regularly exploited for cheap labor in the United States prompted bipartisan outrage and calls to action on Capitol Hill, Congress has moved no closer to addressing the issue, which has become mired in a longrunning partisan war over immigration policy.
Legislation to crack down on companies’ use of child labor has gone nowhere and has little Republican backing, while Democrats’ efforts to increase funding for federal agencies to provide more services to migrant children who cross the border by themselves face long odds in the House, where the GOP has pledged to slash agency budgets.
At the time, Republican proposals to institute tougher vetting of adults in households sponsoring migrant children and expedite the removal of unaccompanied minors stand little chance of gaining ground in the Democratic-led Senate.
Instead, as Congress prepares to wade into a bitter debate over immigration policy in the coming days, Republicans and Democrats have retreated to their opposite corners, abandoning whatever hope there may have been for tackling the issue of child labor in a bipartisan way.
Republicans have pointed to exploitative conditions at companies employing migrant children, documented in an investigation by The New York Times, to justify a hard-line immigration package. The Times reported in February that as the number of children crossing the southern border alone has soared to record levels, many have taken on dangerous jobs that violate longstanding labor laws, including in factories, slaughterhouses, and at construction sites.
The GOP’s legislation, headed for a House vote this week, would restore stringent policies championed under the Trump administration, including measures to hold migrant children in detention centers and expedite their deportation.
Democrats, desperate to avoid any appearance of aiding Republicans in their fight against President Biden’s immigration policies, have quieted their criticism of the government’s handling of the situation, instead directing their anger at the companies that employ migrant children.
The result is that the political space is vanishing for any consensus in Congress on a policy solution to help protect these children from exploitation.
“I know it’s complicated, but this really needs to be about protecting kids, and not about the bigger politics of the border,” Janet Murguía, president of the Latino civil rights advocacy organization UnidosUS, said in an interview, accusing Republicans of “playing politics” and Democrats of being “skittish” in confronting the problem. “It’s a nobrainer. It should be easy to find bipartisan support on this.”
The Biden administration has taken steps to change some of its policies and practices since the Times revealed the explosion in child migrant labor. The Health and Human Services Department, which is responsible for placing unaccompanied migrant children in the care of trustworthy adults, has designated a team to support children after they leave government shelters, and is providing more children with case management and legal services.
The department’s inspector general is also conducting an evaluation of the vetting system used to place migrant children in homes.