(The Center Square) – Reports of child trafficking, sexual abuse and child labor violations continue after hundreds of thousands of “unaccompanied alien children” (UACs) were illegally brought into the country and sent to live with sponsors, The Center Square has reported.
The Department of Labor has regularly reported on violations of child labor laws; the latest investigation is of a HelloFresh facility and a staffing agency in Illinois that reportedly hired Guatemalan teenagers, ABC News reported.
The allegations were brought to the Department of Labor by a local immigrant activist group. HelloFresh terminated its relationship with the staffing agency after learning of the allegations, saying it has “zero tolerance for any form of child labor, and we have taken action to ensure no minors perform work in or have access to our facilities.”
Child labor law violations involving UACs have been reported in meat, poultry and seafood processing plants nationwide.
Before a UAC ever arrives to a facility for employment, they are first processed by a Border Patrol agent and turned over to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. Despite claims that UACs are arriving at the border to be reunited with family members, hundreds of thousands were sent to live with nonfamily member sponsors, according to multiple investigations and data reported by HHS.
Nearly 13,500 UACs were sent to live with sponsors in Illinois over the last 10 years, according to HHS data last updated in September. Texas has received the most of more than 60,000, followed by California and Florida, The Center Square has reported.
The latest incident in Illinois illustrates an outworking of the border crisis that has gone on for years, Sheena Rodriguez, founder of Alliance for a Safe Texas, argues.
“What NGO brought these children to Illinois? Who vetted their sponsors? How many more children that crossed the border are working in these facilities?” she asked, speaking with The Center Square. Rodriguez has long advocated for reforms at the state and federal level, demanding that stronger safeguards be implemented to prevent abuse of UACs.
ORR contracts with nongovernmental organizations to place UACs with sponsors in a program that has been ripe with abuse.
“Did the staffing company receive fake documentation from the teenager? Was the documentation the same as what ORR was given or did it come from ORR?” she asked.
She also notes that “after 30 days of being in ORR care, ORR says it’s no longer responsible for hundreds of thousands of children HHS can’t account for. This is one reason why unaccompanied minors continue to be exploited in this country. Congress must end this program to stop ongoing abuse.”
Under the Biden administration, Office of Inspector General investigations repeatedly identified examples of negligence and abuse within ORR. Congressional investigations also uncovered allegations of abuse, as well as ORR losing track of more than 100,000 children.
A Florida grand jury found that UACs were sent to poorly or not vetted sponsors, to live with gang members, those with criminal records and to non-residential addresses and were allegedly abused.
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, also made criminal referrals after whistleblowers came forward and took other actions to reform UAC oversight. A U.S. House committee recently subpoenaed HHS for UAC information.
U.S. Senate Republicans argue that because the Biden administration incentivized illegal immigration, it “created the largest child trafficking ring in U.S. history.”
Despite this, Congress continued to fund the ORR UAC program.
In fiscal 2024, the Department of Labor investigated 736 cases of child labor violations impacting more than 4,000 children. It fined employers more than $15 million, an 89% increase from the previous year. The department does not specify how many of the children were living in the country illegally.
Key cases the department highlights include children as young as 13 working for an Iowa janitorial service operating meat processing machinery, children as young as 14 performing dangerous jobs at a California poultry processing facility and operating dangerous equipment at a Tennessee parts manufacturer.
