Child labor investigation spreads to meatpacking, produce companies in 11 states
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 3 years ago • 102 commentsBy: Julia Ainsley and Laura Strickler
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A federal investigation into Guatemalan children working in the U.S. in violation of child labor laws has expanded to include meatpacking and produce firms that have allegedly hired underage migrants in at least 11 states, two senior U.S. officials told NBC News.
Investigators from the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations and the Justice Department, as well as White House officials, are participating in the expanded inquiry, the officials said. The meatpacking and produce companies under scrutiny for possible child labor violations operate across the country in locations from Virginia to Colorado, the sources said.
The investigation is part of a broader push by Biden administration agencies, including the Labor Department, to crack down on child labor violations. The Labor Department has documented a 69% increase in children employed in violation of child labor laws since 2018.
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Earlier this year, NBC News reported that according to two U.S. officials familiar with the investigation, DHS and the Justice Department were trying to determine whether a human smuggling scheme brought migrant children to work for multiple companies in the meatpacking sector nationwide. The officials said the companies themselves were not targets of the investigation.
The investigators would not name any of the companies currently under investigation. Penalties could range from civil fines to criminal charges, the officials said, but no charges have been filed.
"I think it's a huge positive step forward," said Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, a legal aid organization for migrant children. "Now we need to make sure that the federal government really invests resources to follow through and sustain this effort. But I'm heartened by the fact that we're now seeing multiple agencies work together and really take this issue seriously," Young said.
Spokespeople for Homeland Security Investigations, the White House and the Labor Department declined to comment. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
When a Labor Department investigation found Wisconsin-based Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) had more than 100 children working across 13 locations in eight states, the company paid $1.5 million in civil penalties. A company spokesperson maintained that any child hired by the company used fake documentation to get the job. "We have always taken rigorous steps to comply with the law, including use of the government's E-Verify system for new hires, extensive training for all hiring managers, multiple audits, and use of biometrics," the spokesperson said.
The company said in April that it was launching a $10 million fund to "enhance the well-being of children in the communities we serve and help reduce the prevalence of the rising problem of underage workers."
One official told NBC News that there is a sense that the underage migrants have unfairly paid a steeper penalty than the companies.
Previously, some of the parents of child employees at PSSI faced child abuse charges and children were left afraid to talk to investigators out of fear of deportation, according to community advocates and court filings.
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Child labor, particularly among Guatemalan teenagers, is on the rise in the U.S. due to worsening economic conditions in the Central American country, increased migration by unaccompanied children in 2021 and 2022, and a U.S. labor shortage. The teenagers often provide falsified paperwork, including stolen identities, to show they are 18 or older and legally authorized to work in the U.S.
More than 260,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been released into the country in the past two years and almost half have been from Guatemala, according to federal figures.
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"We have a shortage of workers in our country, and you see even in Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying, 'Why are you shipping these immigrants up North? We need them to pick the crops down here,'" she said . (Nancy Pelosi)
Cut off welfare benefits and free housing, hungry people will work.
I do hope you never need assistance some day because some mean spirited person like me is going to come along and tell you "tough titties"
Florida Republican politicians are encouraging immigrants both legal and illegal to use the loopholes in the new GOP backed law to stay in Florida.
Rep. Garcia and Fernandez-Barquin lead the way...
People want to live in Florida. They are especially coming from California & New York.
Which has nothing to do with my comment or the GOP current CF.
If you would bother to read seeds other than flooding the front page you would know what Kavika is talking about. It has nothing to do with people wanting to move to Florida
I do that for you and him. Remember the truth will set you free!
give me a fucking break
don't do anything for me I don't want anything from you
I tried that, remember?
don't do anything for me I don't want anything from you
Ok!
You should try it sometime, it would be enlighting for you to say the least.
what the fuck are you talking about? You only give your buddies breaks.
do you need the last word on this?
gee, funny how 9 out of 10 of the largest US meat packing plants are in red states...
go figure...
Gee, funny how the border and enforcing immigration laws are the responsibility of the federal government- and they aren't doing their damn job.
If they weren't here they couldn't be exploited now could they?
Down here every once in a while they raid the poultry plants. Last time they got around 600.
I think they only do it when they want headlines.
Looks like cherry picking to me. Especially when you click on links in the seeded article:
You chose 10 and with no way to verify your claim.
In addition (from the same article):
The failures of Homeland Security just keep piling up. Th e question now is, with Biden's failures at the border how do we expect Homeland Security to do a goddamn thing? Cracking down on this would be to secure the border. Something Biden has refused to do since taking office.
do more research. there was a bipartisan immigration reform bill with almost 70% support during the bush administration. it was defeated in the republican house over standardized verification of immigrant workers and federal fines for employers that didn't comply. explain that. $$$$$$$$
68% of voter support...
Nice tap dance. Danced right around the question. You do know this has nothing to do with the Bush administration right? Since then there have been 2 administrations. Try to keep up.
Are you sure about that? Seems the senate didn't care much for it either.
Read the whole story here and you will find there was shit in there, as is the normal since forever, that was perceived poison pills.
Imagine that. The Republicans mentioned in 1.2.15 is because they opposed amnesty for illegals. Oddly the reason for that bills defeat was left out of that comment.
It's not like they are known for running with fact.
I was talking about where 9 out of 10 meat packing plants were located, not who owns them. as if their main offices would be where the underage workers are. pay attention...
the legislative branch creates immigration laws...
I'll let you know next tuesday afternoon...
the only reason they cross the border illegally is because republicans have turned immigration into a multi-year process, while making it illegal to work without documents, unless they want to risk working for republicans that pay them much less, and pay in prepaid debit cards.
... and undocumented workers still think it's better than starving and trying to live under repressive regimes that were usually created by republican foreign policy fiascos there in the past.
"More than 260,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been released into the country in the past two years and almost half have been from Guatemala, according to federal figures."
Thanks to Biden they are here in the first place, once across the border he doesn't seem to care what happens to them. Your last sentence is totally unsupported by facts
when has that ever mattered to most republicans today?
wait until they vote in the next election...
And politicians in several states are working to change those labor laws to allow these migrant children to continue working.
And when they run out of migrant children they're coming for ours
They already have. Some laws now have (or were preposed to have) 14 year olds to serve alcohol and kids to be able to work late on school days.
Fourteen year olds have no business serving alcohol or working in a place where alcohol is served. I worked in bars...as an adult...and I was propositioned a lot.
where are the people who are so concerned about "the children"?
What states are doing that? Where is this happening? I've lived in Arizona for a good many years and I know it's state law that the minimum age to serve, dispense or produce alcohol is 18. Most state laws are fairly consistent so I would love to know where this is being talked about.
.
I don't know where the bill is currently in the system, but it was proposed in WI.
I got propositioned at tables where I was serving alcohol....in a restaurant.
I'm told that happens quite regularly. I've seen a number of toxic male responses to women who don't like it too.
duh, your chest was at eye level to those goobers...
That alone explains a LOT. Beer drinking and drinking in general is a year round sport LOL
I read one state, maybe it is the same, where they wanted to do away with a lot of child work requirements for all industry.
It's all in the walk away....
She was shaking her ass on purpose. I know it.
Says the half lit dude after he got his order of hotwings...
That's the sad part...I didn't have a chest worth looking at before I had children
uh huh...ordered wings a few times have we?
Only boneless. One doesn't look sexy gnawing on a chicken bone...
as if it matters after 5 or 6 beers, looking thru the bottom of a beer glass magnifies everything...
that tickled my funny bone
uh....did you just call me only good looking after somebody gets drunk?
I have seeded a couple of articles that are about online debates. One I saw the other day was people complaining about different generations and their dining habits. The server said the younger generations will stack up all the plates together in a pile and she liked that.
I was always told to not do that as it makes it harder for them.
er, no, ... but that basic concept works in both directions.
I stack the plates and I liked when my customers stacked them. I think it makes it easier to clear the table
only people that actually worked in a bar/restaurant know that...
I hate to agree with you. butt...
I was always told that it makes it worse because then all the trash and leftover food is all mushed together.
There was a comment that I read. Said the server should be cleaning the table the whole time and not wait until they leave to clean anything up.
Most places I have been to around here do that. They will even ask if I am done and want my plate removed.
Let's just say that someone clearing up and being attentive is going to get a larger tip than someone that left ten plates at the table.
to get the table turned when I was a waiter, after all had turned down any refills, I'd strip the table of everything while they were sitting there. of course I'd politely let them know that we needed all the dinnerware for new tables, and I had already cashed them out and got tipped.
Thanks. From everything I could find on it, it's been proposed only and would have a long way to go before becoming law. I can understand the rational behind it. If a worker under 18 is already working in a establishment that serves food and alcohol, and there are many such establishments in small towns all across Wisconsin where an available work force is limited, not allowing the person to bring everything ordered to a table can create a hardship for the establishment by annoying customers who "wait" for their drinks.
Be that as it may, I don't like the idea myself. I think it's wrong to put that kind of pressure on a 14/15 year old person. How are they to be able to judge if a person has had too much and should be cut off. Hopefully this is a bill that will just die in chambers.
she smiled at me when she was collecting all the dollar bills off the stage, she wants me...
When I was a teenager, all one could do at a restaurant was bus, clean up and maybe help in the kitchen. Did that for a while at a local establishment.
Funny thing was, they would let me sit at the bar on my breaks and smoke.
I used to wait until the lady seated at the bar got drunk enough to find me good lookin'.
I think it is like that here too. A parent can bring any age kid into a bar. Only 18 can drink as long as parent is present.
lol
you could've saved a bunch of money by waiting until an hour before closing time to go in...
The governor would veto it if it passed anyway.
I understand it too, it's about hiring cheaper wait staff during the summer. For a few it's about owners making their own kids work tables in smaller mom & pop shops.
Nor do I.
I live in Montreal, closing time is when the morning staff wanders in.
does everybody there switch over to speaking french as soon as they hear an american voice, like they do in quebec city?
I am of the idea that if one is old enough to die for their country, one is old enough to have a drink.
It certainly isn't the Democrats
What I don't get is why someone can seem relatively normal. Even talk like regular people, then turn around and throw out conspiracy theories designed to get under others skin...
what I don't get is why conservative xtians can't mind their own fucking business...
... maybe they need to be reminded.
... as in epically.
This is what the gop wanted isn't it?
the kids of undocumented workers work for even less money...
are republican employers trying to preserve their tax free income streams by blaming democrats for their own elected officials lack of immigration policy reforms?
Can plants feel?
Only when vegetarians consume them.
I tried but you know, they don't talk. I did try feeling one. See if I could feel any vibration. I did hug a big oak tree once, all I felt was a bug.
Ever see that animated movie about food in a grocery store? Kinda disturbing...
[removed]
I told you that asparagus smell is temporary.
I thought he was...