New taskforce will crack down on rising migrant child labour in U.S., White House says – National | 24CA News
The Biden administration mentioned Monday that it’s creating a brand new process drive to crack down on an explosion of the unlawful exploitation of migrant youngsters for labor within the U.S.
Hundreds of corporations that employed almost 4,000 youngsters final 12 months had been present in violation of federal labor legal guidelines, a dramatic enhance within the final 5 years.
The rising downside has put Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra within the scorching seat, with considerations mounting that migrant youngsters have been discharged from shelters and out of federal custody too rapidly, pushing them into weak conditions the place they’re extra prone to develop into victims of kid labor.
In a brand new video that’s been circulating, first reported by The New York Times, the secretary urged his employees to discharge youngsters from the federal authorities’s damaged system of shelters quicker.
“If Henry Ford had seen this in his plants, he would have never become famous and rich,” Becerra informed employees throughout a gathering final summer time in a recording. “This is not the way you do an assembly line.”
The Times’ investigation recognized greater than 100 migrant youngsters, some as younger as 12 years previous, who say they’re working in a single day shifts and harmful jobs for corporations large and small all through the U.S.
President Joe Biden nonetheless has “full confidence” in Becerra, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned Monday when requested concerning the secretary’s job in mild of the brand new report.
“Of course the president does not believe that processing migrants should be treated like an assembly line, and neither does Secretary Becerra,” she mentioned.
Becerra has lengthy been considered as an advocate for immigrants. He usually talks about his personal mother and father’ expertise immigrating from Mexico to the U.S.
The administration has struggled with how to reply to a surge of migrants, together with youngsters who journey alone, on the U.S. border since Biden first took workplace. In the fiscal 12 months that ended final September, migrants had been stopped 2.38 million occasions, up 37% from 1.73 million occasions the 12 months earlier than. The complete was greater than twice the very best degree throughout Donald Trump’s presidency in 2019.
HHS and the Department of Labor rolled out new insurance policies and the duty drive on Monday, whereas additionally promising stronger observe up for kids who’re moved from shelters to dwell with sponsors within the U.S. The company will assist migrant youngsters register for college. It can even now require employees to observe up with youngsters who name the Office of Refugee Resettlement National Call Center to report security considerations.
The Labor Department additionally threatened to halt the cargo of merchandise made with little one labor.
