Status: 02/28/2023 11:09 am
According to a media report, there are thousands of exploited migrant children in the United States: some of them even work night shifts. Minister Becerra in particular has been criticized – President Biden protected him.
The US government is under pressure to act after a media report about a massive increase in the illegal exploitation of migrant children by American companies.
During research, the New York Times identified more than 100 minors – some as young as 12 – who said they were working night shifts and dangerous jobs at small and large companies across the country.
Last year, nearly 4,000 children and young people worked for hundreds of companies in violation of US labor laws – a sharp increase in the past five years.
Minister under criticism
Health and Social Affairs Minister Xavier Becerra, in particular, has been criticized for urging his staff in a video message revealed by the New York Times to release migrant children picked up at the southern border from federal shelters more quickly – citing the assembly line work at car manufacturers as a good thing Example of greater efficiency efforts.
“If Henry Ford had seen that in his factories, he would never have become famous and rich,” Becerra said in an online session in the recording, which dates from last summer. “This is not the way to run an assembly line.” He understands that “children are not devices,” added the minister. “But we can do much better than that.”
Critics now accuse President Joe Biden’s administration of removing children from shelters and state care too quickly, putting them in a position where they are more vulnerable to child labor.
Biden remains “completely confident”
When asked by a reporter about Becerra’s future, government spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre replied that Biden still had “full confidence” in his minister. Of course, the President does not believe that dealing with migrants should be treated like an assembly line, and Becerra agrees.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services has long been an advocate for migrant issues and often cites the experiences of his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico.
Measures against exploitation
Becerra’s department and the Department of Labor announced a working group to address the growing exploitation of minors by businesses. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs wants to continue to support those affected with school registration in the future. The Ministry of Labor also threatened to stop deliveries of products made using child labor.
The US government is struggling to deal with the influx of illegal migrants crossing the southern border. This applies, among other things, to children traveling alone. In the fiscal year that ended in September, around 2.4 million asylum seekers were stopped – a 37 percent increase compared to the previous year.