On Monday, investigative reporter for The New York Times Hannah Dreier released a bombshell story that revealed migrant children as young as 12 are increasingly being forced to work in dangerous conditions across the United States. Dreier revealed that the Biden administration has repeatedly ignored warnings and reports about the rising child labor, sometimes even punishing people for trying to speak out about this issue.
Speaking to reporter Amy Goodman with Democracy Now!, Drier revealed that she spent a year “talking to children who came to this country and are working in the most exploitative conditions in factories, in slaughterhouses.”
According to her piece in the Times, “Over the past two years, more than 250,000 migrant children have come alone to the United States. Thousands of children have ended up in punishing jobs across the country – working overnight in slaughterhouses, replacing roofs, operating machinery in factories – all in violation of labor laws.”
She discovered the alarming fact that “people were punished for bringing this to the attention of their supervisors.”
“How could it have been that the Biden administration didn’t know about this?” Drier had wondered, prompting a more thorough investigation into the matter.
She soon discovered that the Biden regime was given evidence of this migrant child labor issue, which senior White House officials largely ignored for two years. It wasn’t until last month that the White House took any action to address the migrant child labor that is growing throughout the country.
Drier found that Susan Rice, the Director of the Domestic Policy Council of the United States, was told about this major problem over and over again, but continuously ignored the issue.
According to the Times, “At least five Health and Human Services staff members filed complaints and said they were pushed out after raising concerns about child safety.”
One HHS staffer told The New York Times, “I feel like short of protesting in the streets. I did everything I could to warn [the Biden administration]. They just didn’t want to hear it.”
In February, The New York Times released its first report on serious child labor law violations, including accounts by over 100 unaccompanied migrant children. The children work in dangerous, brutal conditions for long hours that can stretch late into the night.
These children work to manufacture products for major brands like Cheerios, Fruit of the Loom, Whole Foods, Target, Walmart, J. Crew, Frito-Lay, and Ben & Jerry’s.
Meanwhile, others work as cleaning staff in hotels, at slaughterhouses and construction sites, and at car factories owned by General Motors and Ford.
After being called out for neglecting to take these reports seriously, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas took a lot of criticism from lawmakers. Mayorkas, of course, tried to pass off the blame to the Trump administration, which angered people even more.
H.H.S. officials tried to place the blame on other departments, insisting that they are not responsible for what happens to migrant children after they enter the United States.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MS) bashed Mayorkas, calling him out for his obvious neglect.
“You’re not going to take any responsibility for the indentured servitude and exploitation of children that is happening on your watch,” said Hawley. “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.”
“Mr. Secretary, this is par for the course for you. You do it every time you appear before this committee,” Hawley continued. “I, for one, am sick and tired of it. And thousands of children are in physical danger – danger because of what you are doing. You should have resigned long ago. And if you cannot change course, you will be removed from office.”
