Recently, child labor has become a huge issue, and many immigrant children in America have been forced to work to support their families. Most of the places like this have long hours and horrible conditions. Unfortunately, many of these children are being employed by big, nationwide companies. Some of these produce things that you use every day, such as grocery stores, mass production, or food production companies. 

Many migrant families have been forced to send their kids to work when they cross the border. Because of the horrible conditions in border containment, the spotlight has shied away from conditions after release. Because of this, many factories have been able to get away with these issues. Even with child labor laws, many companies have found ways to work around these laws. Some people believe that federal laws need to be tightened and factories should be closely monitored. Although, this situation might not have such an easy solution. 

While in some situations, keeping kids out of the workforce will help save immigrant families- but other times, it might do just the opposite. While child labor is certainly a horrible thing to be happening, many of these families aren’t able to support themselves without every person working. What might truly be the solution to this problem is fixing border conditions. Once crossing the border, many families are forced to send their kids to work in order to stay out of border detention centers, and even keep their families together. 

While it may seem like a simple solution to tighten identification requirements, there is a much deeper story going on. Not to mention, this is also going on in countless places around the world. With huge companies abusing their rights over workers, assigning long hours, and underpaying workers. In the past year, Immigration numbers have hugely surged, and the government has taken steps to help this issue. Because of this surge, many of the immigrants who made it through the border have been stuck in immigration camps, and they have been forced to work long hours to support themselves. 

These factors have also caused a surge in child labor numbers, and many companies are forcing horrible working conditions onto their workers, and employing underage workers due to lack of caring. It is important for these details to not be covered up, as no change will come if we don’t acknowledge the issues at hand. In situations like this, we must educate ourselves instead of avoiding them.

Cites: Nytimes.com