There was sign after sign that this was happening for two years, and the administration really didn’t spring into action until just last month. And so, after that story came out, I began asking, “How could it have been that the Biden administration didn’t know about this?”Īnd what I found was that, actually, they were given evidence. I found these children in every single state in this country. I spent a year talking to children who came to this country and are working in the most exploitative conditions in factories, in slaughterhouses. People say that they were fired, they were demoted. HANNAH DREIER: It’s great to be with you, Amy.Īnd yeah, just as you say, people were punished for bringing this to the attention of their supervisors. Now you’re reporting that the Biden administration knew about this - not only knew about this and didn’t do anything, they actually did do something: They pushed out those within the administration who were raising alarms. Hannah Dreier, welcome back to Democracy Now! We had you on for your first blockbuster exposé showing children as young as 12 working across the United States. Ignored Warnings.” Dreier’s earlier piece was headlined “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.” Her new investigation is headlined “As Migrant Children Were Put to Work, U.S. Chairman.ĪMY GOODMAN: We’re joined now by Hannah Dreier, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The New York Times. And if you cannot change course, you should be removed from office. And thousands of children are in physical danger - danger - because of what you are doing. You do it every time you appear before Congress. You do it every time you appear before this committee. Secretary, this is par for the course for you. A moment ago, you were crowing about the fact that you treated children so well, and yet we find tens of thousands of children who are forced to work as slaves because of your policies, and you turn around and blame a prior administration. JOSH HAWLEY: You’re not going to take any responsibility for the indentured servitude and exploitation of children that is happening on your watch.
This is Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was grilled about the Biden administration’s response to forced child labor. Others were forced to work as cleaning staff at hotels, at slaughterhouses, construction sites, car factories owned by General Motors and Ford, in serious violation of child labor laws. In February, the Times published a blockbuster report about child labor based on accounts by over 100 unaccompanied migrant children, mostly from Central America, who described grueling and often dangerous working conditions, including having to use heavy machinery, being subjected to long hours and late-night shifts at facilities that manufacture products for major brands and retailers, like Hearthside Food Solutions, the makers of Cheerios, Fruit of the Loom, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, J.Crew, Frito-Lay and Ben & Jerry’s. They just didn’t want to hear it,” she said. One of the HHS staffers told The New York Times, quote, “I feel like short of protesting in the streets, I did everything I could to warn them. The Times reports, quote, “At least five Health and Human Services staff members filed complaints and said they were pushed out after raising concerns about child safety,” unquote.
AMY GOODMAN: The New York Times is reporting the Biden administration has repeatedly ignored or missed warnings about a surge of migrant children as young as 12 working in factories across the United States.
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