White House vows to fight migrant child labor

WASHINGTON. The Biden administration said Monday it is creating a new task force to crack down on the outbreak of illegal exploitation of migrant children for work in the US.

Hundreds of companies that employed about 4,000 children last year have been found violating federal labor laws, a rise that has risen sharply over the past five years.

The growing issue has put Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in a hot spot as concerns grow that migrant children are being released from shelters and federal care too quickly, putting them in vulnerable situations where they are more likely to be victims. . child labour.

In a new circulated video first reported by The New York Times, the secretary urged his staff to release children more quickly from the federal government’s broken orphanage system.

“If Henry Ford had seen this in his factories, he would never have become famous and rich,” Becerra told employees during a meeting last summer in a recording. “That’s not how you do an assembly line.”

The Times investigation has identified more than 100 migrant children, some as young as 12, who say they work nights and dangerous jobs for companies large and small across the US.

President Joe Biden continues to have “total confidence” in Becerra, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday when asked about the Secretary of State’s work in light of the new report.

“Of course, the president doesn’t think migrant processing should be treated like an assembly line, and Secretary Becerra doesn’t either,” she said.

Becerra has long been seen as an advocate for immigrants. He often talks about his parents’ experience of immigrating from Mexico to the US.

The administration has struggled with how to respond to an influx of migrants, including children who travel alone, at the US border since Biden first took office. In the fiscal year ending last September, migrants were stopped 2.38 million times, up 37% from 1.73 million times a year earlier. The amount was more than double the highest level during Donald Trump’s presidency in 2019.

On Monday, HHS and the Department of Labor unveiled a new policy and created a task force, and promised more active monitoring of children who have been moved from sponsored shelters in the US. The agency will help migrant children register at school. It will also now require staff to monitor children who call the Refugee Resettlement Authority’s National Call Center to report security concerns.

The Department of Labor also threatened to stop shipments of goods made with child labor.