On Aug. 21 the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an investigation of the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and its efforts to curtail violations of child labor laws. From Jan. 2018 to April 2023, child labor violations increased by 69% according to the Dept. of Labor, many of these violations involving migrant children. In July 2023 alone, 765 individual WHD investigations found that 4,474 children were employed in violation of federal child labor laws. The OIG investigation is to determine if adequate measures are being taken to prevent abusive child labor practices.
Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) data indicate that 152,000 unaccompanied minors, known officially as unaccompanied alien children (UACs), crossed the southern border into the U.S. during the year 2022. Approximately 75% of these children were from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, known as the “Northern Triangle,” the majority of the remaining children coming from Mexico.
When unaccompanied minors cross the border, they are taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and subsequently released to the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). ORR then attempts to find sponsors to care for these children, preferably relatives, who have been screened for employment status, income, criminal background, and other such criteria. This screening process, however, is far from perfect, putting children in danger of release into the custody of abusive sponsors. According to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, ORR has no legal oversight responsibility for children once transferred to a sponsor.
