Congressional Hispanic Caucus Urges Biden Administration to Address Migrant Child Labor Reports

Washington, DC - The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) issued the following statement on the recent migrant child labor reports:

"Child labor is child abuse. Period. The reports of migrant children being exploited by multibillion dollar corporations are sickening. These children, mostly from Central America, are fleeing persecution, violence, and other hardships only to find themselves in a cycle of abuse and exploitation by smugglers and American corporations. They are being forced to work long hours in incredibly dangerous, life-threating conditions, and companies are getting away with it because they are not being held accountable. It is unacceptable that in the 21st century these egregious crimes are occurring in the United States of America.

It is clear that our current child labor violation penalties are not strong enough deterrents which is why companies across the country and across industries are shamelessly flouting child labor laws and exploiting migrant children. Moreover, changing state labor laws to allow this kind of abuse, as are in the cases in Iowa and Arkansas, is not the answer. Congress must take swift and immediate bipartisan action to protect these children from predatory practices by greedy corporations taking advantage of vulnerable migrant children.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus requested and will receive a briefing from the White House and Administration on their plans to address this problem, and will be calling on the CEOs of the companies cited in the reports for labor violations to address the CHC and answer to the American people.

We must act urgently and compassionately and put an end to this child abuse in the form of child labor. America must do better."

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