The Cost of Migration: Child Labor in the U.S.
Photo Caption and Credit: "Addie Card, 12 years. Spinner in North Pormal Cotton Mill. Vt." by Lewis Hine, 1912. Hine's photographs were designed to turn public opinion against child labor. This image was used on a 1998 US stamp to commemorate the passage of the Keating–Owen Act” Library of Congress
Child labor in the U.S. is not a new phenomenon. The recent exposés about migrant children working in dangerous places like slaughterhouses and on construction sites have renewed investigations into the exploitation of children in the U.S. workforce. Addressing this issue on the House floor, Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI-3) said, “Stories of kids dropping out of school, collapsing from exhaustion, and even losing limbs to machinery are what one expects to find in a Charles Dickens or Upton Sinclair novel, but not an account of everyday life in 2023, not in the United States of America.” What can we do to protect migrant children - and all children - from labor exploitation?
Generations ago, child labor was common.
Children were often used as extra hands in the fields, mines, and factories. The 1880 U.S. Census reveals that nearly 40% of the U.S. workforce comprised children ages 10 to 15. Many of these children suffered irreparable harm from mishandled equipment and abusive employers, with little hope for restitution. Low-wealth and minority families were more likely to need additional income and put their children to work out of extreme necessity, delaying or permanently sacrificing their children’s participation in K-12 education. What makes the current plight of forced labor on migrant children so appalling in 2023 is that the U.S. has an almost one-hundred-year history of child labor protection laws in place, starting in 1938.
The U.S. enacted the FLSA.
The Keating-Owen Labor Act of 1916 was the first bill passed to protect children from adverse working conditions. Unfortunately, the bill was contested because it violated interstate commerce regulations, and the U.S. Supreme Court found the bill unconstitutional in the 1918 Hammer v. Dagenhart case. It would take another twenty years before children would finally be protected with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. While the FLSA was challenged before the Supreme Court in 1941, the verdict in United States v. Darby favored protecting children in the workplace. The FLSA is still enforced today, but the guidelines on farmwork need to be updated, given the well-established dangers on some farms. The Washington Post found that “one hundred thousand child farmworkers are estimated to be injured on the job each year, and children represent 20 percent of farming fatalities: a child dies every three days in U.S. agriculture, according to the National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety.”
But are migrant children also protected?
The New York Times has been highlighting the plight of migrant children who are being forced to work while noting that some Senate Democrats have demanded answers from relevant federal agencies by April 1st. Migrant children are protected by the FLSA, as well as the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA). Still, the problem remains that many of these child laborers are undocumented and not included in formal employment records. Also, even under FLSA guidelines, Farmworker Justice notes that “child-labor protections in agriculture are lower than in other industries. For example, for most jobs, the normal minimum age is 16 years (with few exceptions), but in agriculture, it is 14 years (with many exceptions). Moreover, there are fewer restrictions in agriculture on the number of hours that children are permitted to work.”
Tell elected officials why this issue matters to you. In response to the recent reports, the Biden administration rolled out a new plan that seeks to prevent the exploitation of migrant children who are released from U.S. custody. The Biden administration said that Congress needs to allocate more funds to the Department of Labor to conduct investigations and strengthen penalties. Currently, the maximum financial penalty for U.S. child labor law violations is a meager $15,138. As part of this plan, Health and Human Services (HHS) said that their agency will, among other things, “require officials to follow up with migrant children who call a hotline to report safety concerns [...].” Please consider writing to your elected officials in Congress and expressing your opinions about the current plan and whether it will adequately protect children from exploitation.
Support RAICES. This nonprofit provides “free and low-cost legal services to underserved immigrant children, families, and refugees. With legal services, social programs, bond assistance, and an advocacy team focused on changing the narrative around immigration in this country, RAICES is operating on the national frontlines of the fight for immigration rights.”
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